An Illinois man has admitted in federal court that he spent years grooming a Zanesville teenager online, trading an eye-popping 141,000-plus messages with her, before traveling to Ohio to meet in person. Prosecutors say Immanuel D. Nellum, 30, of Peoria Heights, came to Muskingum County intending to engage in sexual activity with the minor and recorded encounters at a hotel, with investigators later pulling thousands of images and videos from phones and social apps.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio, Nellum pleaded guilty on April 7 to coercion and enticement of a minor and to traveling interstate with the intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Those counts carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and could put him behind bars for life. Sentencing will be scheduled by the court at a later date, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio said.
Local reporting by NBC4 and court documents state that Nellum first contacted the girl on an app called Friend when she was 12, maintaining an online relationship from August 2023 through August 2025. Investigators say his phone held more than 141,000 messages with the victim, roughly 5,500 attachments and thousands of additional exchanges through platforms that included Snapchat. Prosecutors point to the sheer volume of cross-platform communication as part of the reasoning for taking the case federal.
How investigators say he was found
Authorities say the case broke open after a tip that the teenager was at a Zanesville hotel with someone from Illinois. Officers found a vehicle with Illinois plates parked at the Quality Inn near downtown Zanesville and arrested Nellum in August 2025, according to the federal filing. He was taken into custody on Aug. 19 and initially charged in Muskingum County, with federal prosecutors filing a complaint the following month. The investigation involved local police working alongside the FBI's Cincinnati Division, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Digital evidence and prosecution strategy
Investigators recovered about 75 videos from Nellum's phone, several showing sexual encounters, along with the thousands of messages and image files, according to local reporting and court records. NBC4 reports that Nellum told FBI agents he initially believed the girl was an adult when they connected online, but prosecutors say the relationship continued after he learned her true age. The U.S. Attorney's Office notes the case is being pursued under Project Safe Childhood, the federal initiative targeting online child sexual exploitation.
What comes next for the case and for families
Sentencing has not yet been set; a judge will apply federal sentencing guidelines and consider statutory factors before deciding Nellum's prison term. Officials urge anyone with information about online sexual exploitation of children to contact the FBI tipline at tips.fbi.gov or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Prosecutors and investigators say the case is a stark reminder of how predators can move across multiple apps to develop relationships with minors, and why parents should regularly review privacy and safety settings on the platforms their children use.
