PEORIA, Ill. – A jury has found a Peoria tattoo artist guilty of grooming a teenage girl via Snapchat.
The Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office says 34-year-old Mario Davis was found guilty of Grooming on Wednesday after a three-day trial. He is set to be sentenced on November 20th.
Prosecutors say the 16-year-old victim testified that Davis sent her a friend request on February 12th at around 4:00 A.M., which she accepted, but normal conversations became sexual in nature.
The victim had told Davis she was 16, but prosecutors say he continued to send messages to her, and the teen screen-recorded the conversation.
Prosecutors say detectives testified that the Snapchat account was registered in Davis’ name, and GPS data confirmed that conversations occurred in or around his residence. Detectives added that investigators for the same screen-recorded data within Snapchat data on Davis’ phone.
Davis testified on the witness stand that the messages were sent from his phone but that he did not send them. He says it came from disgruntled former employees in an attempt to set him up.
Prosecutors say the guilty verdict came after less than two hours of deliberation.
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