Orland Park Man Sought In Nationwide Search Remains At Large: Police

ORLAND PARK, IL — An Orland Park man who is wanted by police and who is wanted in a nationwide manhunt in connection with the solicitation of a girl purported to be under the age of 15 remains at large on Friday, Lake County law enforcement officials said.

Connor N. Smith, 32, is wanted on a warrant out of Lake County after police attempted to take the Orland Park resident and former MTV reality show participant into custody on charges of indecent solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a minor, grooming and disseminating harmful material, police said.

Christopher Covelli, deputy chief for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told Patch on Friday that Smith is not yet in custody. Covelli said earlier this week that Smith had said through his attorney that he planned to turn himself in after the warrant was issued last week, but failed to do so.

“We do feel like he is actively evading apprehension,” Covelli wrote in an email to Patch earlier this week. “There are indications he could have fled the state, but still in the Great Lakes region.”

The charges were filed after detectives in Lake County posed as a girl under the age of 15 years old and began communicating with Smith online. During the chats, Smith is accused of sending sexually explicit images and videos of himself to an undercover agent and making arrangements to meet for a sexual encounter, according to a news release from the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

On Feb. 9, Smith — who lives in the 8200 block of Hillcrest Drive — drove to meet the girl and was met by Lake County detectives when he arrived, police said. Authorities tried to take Smith into custody at the time, but he was able to escape and fled in a pick-up truck.

He has been on the loose ever since, and on Feb. 10, a nationwide arrest warrant was issued for him. A Lake County judge set bond on the warrant at $1 million.

Police are urging anyone who sees Smith not to approach him and to contact local law enforcement.

The recent charges mark the second time that Smith has been sought on criminal charges involving sex crimes and underage girls.

In 2021, court documents allege Smith forced a 16-year-old girl he met online to perform a sexual act on him. The girl told authorities he then took her to a motel room where he raped her.

In August 2021, Smith was charged with rape, criminal confinement, and sexual battery in Indiana. Last September, all of the charges were dismissed in the case, according to online court records.

Prosecutors opted to file a motion to drop the charges after the victim in the case stopped cooperating with police and after attempts by state prosecutors to reach her were also unsuccessful, Patch previously reported.

In a statement issued to Patch after the charges were dropped, Smith thanked those who he said believed in his innocence and indicated how much of a dramatic impact the rape allegations have had on his life.