Man sexually assaults girl under 12, tries hiring hitman to kill her, FL cops say

A man accused of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 12 tried to avoid prosecution by hiring a hitman to kill her, the lead prosecutor and a detective, Florida authorities said.

Now, 24-year-old Talil M. Vann is facing three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, in addition to the two counts of sexual battery of a child younger than 12 and one count of use of a child in a sexual performance, according to an Aug. 20 news release from the State Attorney’s Office for the 18th Judicial Circuit.

The previous charges stem from a February 2024 incident in which Vann is accused of catfishing the child on Snapchat, pretending to be another girl her age, according to the Altamonte Springs Police Department.

An individual on Snapchat began messaging the victim, saying she thought they went to the same school, police wrote in an arrest affidavit. The other Snapchat user told the victim she wanted help catching her boyfriend cheating, and she would pay her $70 on CashApp, investigators said.

Another subject with the username TMV then began messaging the victim on Snapchat, police said. Part of the arrest warrant is redacted, but the user, later identified as Vann, obtained the victim’s address and CashApp, and he showed up at an apartment complex where the girl was, authorities said.

She discreetly took a picture of Vann standing next to a white pickup truck before approaching him, according to police.

“She advised the male pressured her into walking to a secluded area in the apartment complex and then forced her into performing sexual acts,” a detective wrote in the affidavit.

Vann told her to give him her phone because his died, and he recorded the sex acts, according to investigators.

The girl said she was afraid someone was going to find out what happened, so she deleted all the videos and messages from that day, but law enforcement was able to extract videos showing the assault, according to police.

Investigators said they learned the Snapchat user who first messaged the victim had messaged other individuals a similar story about wanting to test her boyfriend’s loyalty. They believe Vann was controlling both accounts and found out the same email address was attached to both, according to the affidavit.

The girl disclosed what happened about a month and a half later, and it landed Vann in jail, police said.

But from behind bars, Vann is accused of hatching a plan to try to kill three of the key individuals involved in his case. He asked another inmate to help arrange the killings and said he’d pay the hitman with a BMW, investigators said.

A confidential informant tipped off law enforcement, and the hitman Vann thought he hired was an undercover deputy with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. He gave detailed instructions and spoke in code, authorities said.

For instance, Vann wanted the “hitman” to strap a pipe bomb to a remote-controlled car to take out the Altamonte Springs detective, prosecutors said. He also provided the child victim’s address, school, date of birth and social media usernames, prosecutors said, citing arrest records.

The undercover investigator “began receiving coded directions from Vann through the mail and jail email system,” prosecutors wrote. “The phrase ‘birds are beautiful’ meant kill the prosecutor, and ‘the sky was cloudy today’ meant kill the detective.”

Investigators said they learned of the plot in May, and when they searched his jail cell, they found notes containing his plans and his codes.

Another prosecutor will be assigned for the new case, the State Attorney’s Office said.

Altamonte Springs is part of the Orlando metropolitan area.

This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Man sexually assaults girl under 12, tries hiring hitman to kill her, FL cops say."