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Ex-MTV reality star Connor Smith has been arrested in Florida after a year on the run from police in Illinois.
With the help of the Pinellas County Sheriff, the Are You the One? alum was booked into custody on Thursday, March 28, where he is being held without bond, Us Weekly can confirm through online records.
According to Fox 32, Smith, 33, has been on the run since February 2023 after he was accused of chatting with a detective posing as an underage girl.
At the time, police told the Chicago news affiliate that Smith allegedly drove to a shopping mall parking lot to meet who he thought was an underage girl for a sexual encounter.
There may be plenty of reality dating shows with wild premises out there, but MTV’s Are You the One? is in a class by itself. At the beginning of each season, producers secretly pair contestants into couples based on the results from a matchmaking algorithm. The cast members then move in together and try to […]
Soon after Smith pulled into the parking lot, police said he spotted sheriff’s officers approaching his pickup truck. He proceeded to drive off in hopes of evading arrest.
“He became very wary immediately,” Christopher Covelli, deputy chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told Fox 32. “Put the car in drive, drove over a curb, drove over a significant amount of grass out on to a major roadway fleeing from our investigators. Our investigators gave chase for a bit. Eventually, he was going at such a dangerous and excessive speed they terminated that pursuit.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued a nationwide warrant for Smith’s arrest on charges of grooming, traveling to meet a minor and disseminating harmful material.
“Connor Smith kept engaging this girl in communication, in conversation, eventually sending lewd photos of himself to who he thought was this girl, really an undercover detective, and then worked out a plan to meet who he thought was this girl to engage in a sexual relationship,” Covelli previously said. “We believe he’s very aware that he’s wanted for these serious crimes in Illinois.”
Smith was ultimately arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office at a Clearwater, Florida address.
Although the world of reality dating shows focuses overwhelmingly on heterosexual couples, there are some series that have challenged that norm. Season 8 of MTV’s Are You The One? featured an entirely LGBTQ+ cast, including trans-masculine nonbinary contestant Kai Wes. The show’s executive producer Sitarah Pendelton spoke to Entertainment Weekly in 2019 about how the […]
Smith first appeared on season 3 of MTV’s reality dating show Are You the One? in 2015. After failing to find a lasting relationship, the reality star left filming in Hawaii and returned to his hometown in Chicago to work on opening his own gym.
After the show, he expressed interest in doing more reality TV in the future.
“To all of those who keep asking why I haven’t been on @TheChallengeMTV trust me I would love to go show them what’s up,” he wrote via X in November 2017. “Make the call guys.”
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