JACKSONVILLE, Florida — A former Longview Police Department lieutenant who attempted to solicit sex from an 11-year-old girl using online messaging apps has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.
Seth Estes Vanover, 52, of Diana, was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in August by a judge out of Jacksonville, Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
He was also ordered to serve a 15-year term of supervised release, register as a sex offender, and forfeit four iPhone devices, the DOJ said.
According to court documents obtained by the Longview News-Journal, a man, who was identified as Vanover, had conversations with two undercover FBI agents via social media that show he wanted to have sex with a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old girl. The app was also reached on devices registered to the city of Longview.
In the plea agreement, Vanover admitted to trying to persuade, induce, entice or coerce an 11-year-old girl to having sex using communication on cell phones and Internet devices.
A conversation from July 2022 show messages from a different FBI agent and an account called "jattleson." The account "jattleson" was interested in meeting the agent's girlfriend's 11-year-old daughter.
At one point in the messages, the agent asks how old "jattleson" is. The user says 44 and then sends a photo a nude man standing in front of a bathroom mirror, the document detailed.
The man behind the "jattleson" account said he's always wanted to have sex with a girl. Through a subpoena, the FBI learned the contact associated with that account was Seth Vanover and the city of Longview was the subscriber, according to the complaint.
Vanover was arrested on Oct. 12, 2022 at the Longview Police Department and he resigned the same day, On his cell phone in his patrol car, officers found 234 videos and 133 photos showing the sexual abuse of children, including infants, toddlers, and other young children, according to the Department of Justice.
Officials also found sexually explicit online communications that Vanover had with other app users, as well as child sexual abuse videos and photos that Vanover asked for and received during some of these conversations.