Guilty Verdict in Snapchat Grooming Case

October 8, 2025, Peoria, IL - A Peoria County jury has found Mario E. Davis, 34, guilty of Grooming after sending sexually explicit text messages through the app Snapchat to a 16-year-old girl.

During the three-day trial, the victim testified that around 4 a.m. on February 12, 2025, Davis sent her a friend request on Snapchat, which she accepted. Shortly after, Davis began messaging her, but the normal conversation quickly took a turn and became sexual in nature. The victim told Davis she was only 16 years old, yet he continued to send messages to her. She then screen-recorded the conversation.

Detectives testified that the Snapchat used to communicate with the victim was registered in Davis's name. GPS location data from Snapchat indicated that the conversation occurred in or around Davis's residence, and investigators found the same chat that the victim screen recorded within the Snapchat data on Davis's phone.

On the witness stand, Davis admitted those messages were sent from his phone at 4 a.m. but testified that he was not the person who sent them. Rather, he claimed that disgruntled former employees could have had access to his phone and sent the messages to the girl in an attempt to set him up. The jury took less than two hours to disregard that story and find him guilty.

Sentencing for the case is scheduled for November 20.

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