Illinois man pleads guilty to traveling to Zanesville to engage in sex acts with minor after meeting online

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Illinois man who traveled to Muskingum County to engage in sexual activity with a local teenager pleaded guilty in federal court here today.

Immanuel D. Nellum, 30, of Peoria Heights, Illinois, faces at least 10 years and up to life in prison. He is convicted of coercion and enticement of a minor and traveling interstate with the intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

According to court documents, Nellum met the victim on the online app Friend when she was 12 years old. Between August 2023 and August 2025, Nellum and the victim engaged in an online relationship and exchanged nude images and videos of themselves.

Nellum's phone contained more than 141,000 messages between him and the victim, including approximately 5,500 attachments. Of those, more than 10,000 messages and 2,000 attachments were noted as being exchanged on social media platforms like Snapchat.

Nellum admitted that he traveled to Zanesville to engage in sex acts with the minor. In August 2025, law enforcement located Nellum at the Quality Inn in Zanesville with the minor and arrested him. Nellum's phone showed that he made 75 videos of his encounters with the minor at the hotel.

The defendant was charged in Muskingum County and arrested on Aug. 19. He was charged by federal criminal complaint the next month.

Sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the Court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors at a future hearing.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Zanesville Police Chief Scott Comstock announced the guilty plea entered today before Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Czerniejewski is representing the United States in this case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

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