Judge orders former Longview police lieutenant’s conditional release

LONGVIEW — Court documents show a former Longview police lieutenant who was arrested by the FBI and accused of attempting to engage minors in sexual activity online was released from jail on a conditional order. According to our news partner KETK, Seth Vanover was released from the Smith County Jail on Thursday. The specific conditions of his release were sealed by the court, but he will have a third-party custodian, according to documents. Vanover was ordered to appear in court in the middle district of Florida, where the charges are pending, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Barksdale on Oct. 24 at 2 p.m., to answer those charges.

Officials with the City of Longview said the police department was contacted on Tuesday regarding a criminal investigation involving one of the department’s peace officers. According to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI, Lieutenant Vanover, using the username “jjdad36” on a social media app, contacted an undercover special agent who was based in Florida and began engaging with them through private messages in 2020. The agent’s account was designed “to identify and target adult individuals who were seeking to make contact with and engage in illegal sexual activity with minor children.”