Police are searching for a truck driver accused of a ‘nationwide’ attempt to groom and seduce young girls through the use of social media.
26-year-old Dmitriy Seleznev is wanted by Illinois State Police, Jonesboro Police, and the Union County State’s Attorney’s Office for three inappropriate interactions with underaged girls in Union County, Illinois. But officials say that there may be more victims throughout the country.
Seleznev has been accused of picking his victims online through the use of social media apps such as Snapchat. He is said to have used the app’s map feature to determine the victim’s location, allowing him to “show up where they are at unexpectedly.”
“In this particular case, the defendant has used that snapchat map to track down some of our victims, to show up where they are at unexpectedly, unannounced, simply by opening snapchat showing they are right here,” said Union County State’s Attorney Daniel Klingemann.
“He seems to be a nationwide thing, he has ties to other states. We do believe and it’s kind of personal belief, but that he has other victims out there may even be victims in the southern Illinois area,” Klingemann continued.
Seleznev is facing five counts of child pornography, indecent solicitation of a minor, two counts of traveling to meet a minor and two counts of grooming. However, the truck driver has not yet been taken into custody, as police are having trouble tracking him down.
Officials say that Seleznev is fluent in Russian and possibly German.