A Durango man faces child solicitation charges after allegedly having a nearly 2½-year online relationship with a teenage girl.
Seth Zielinski, 23, was arrested Feb. 11 and booked into the San Juan County Detention Center on a charge of solicitation of a child by electronic communication device, a fourth-degree felony.
The charges are in connection to Zielinski allegedly trading more than 4,000 messages with a 14-year-old San Juan County girl.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Zielinski on May 6 after being alerted to the man reportedly “trying to have sex” with the teen girl, according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.
A member of the girl’s family called authorities when she discovered the girl had been texting and sharing video calls with Zielinski, who had been described as a “prior co-worker” and “former family friend,” the affidavit states.
Investigators collected the girl’s cellphone and conducted a “Cellebrite extraction” of text messages from the device. The first messages were sent in June 22, the affidavit states.
The teen reportedly found the messages to be “intriguing,” and shared that she found Zielinski to be “fine” with a “great personality,” the affidavit states.
The conversations between Zielinksi and the teen become “sexual in nature.” The teen admitted “she has a crush on him, and Zielinksi then began “flirting” with her, the affidavit states.
By May 2024, Zielinski reportedly had asked the girl for photos of her “getting dressed” and then to meet him at the Animas Valley Mall, stating he has a “treat for her,” the affidavit states.
The conversation about a meeting at the mall continues with Zielinski reportedly “making sexual advances” and asking to teen “multiple times to engage in sexual acts,” the affidavit states.
When Zielinski found out about the investigation, he reportedly contacted the girl’s family and stated that “his phone was stolen and that the sexual messages were not sent from him,” according to the affidavit.
A preliminary hearing for Zielinski is set for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 20 at Aztec Magistrate Court.
