SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A Casselberry man convicted of sexually battering an 11-year-old girl and recording the abuse was sentenced to life in prison, according to the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 18th Judicial Circuit.
Prosecutors said the defendant, Talil M. Vann, 25, also attempted to hire a hitman while jailed to kill the child victim — as well as the prosecutor and lead detective assigned to the case — in an effort to derail the prosecution.
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Charges and sentence
Seminole County prosecutors convicted Vann at a June trial of:
- Two counts of capital sexual battery on a child under the age of 12
- One count of using a child in a sexual performance
At a hearing on Monday, a circuit judge sentenced Vann to:
- Two life prison terms for the sexual battery convictions
- 15 years in prison for using a child in a sexual performance
How investigators say the abuse unfolded
The State Attorney’s Office said Vann used Snapchat in 2024 to manipulate the child into meeting him.
According to prosecutors, the victim later told her mother she had received Snapchat messages months earlier from someone who claimed to be a girl from her school and offered money to help “catch her boyfriend cheating.”
Investigators said the messaging escalated and led to a meeting near the victim’s Altamonte Springs apartment complex.
Prosecutors: suspect played multiple roles in the messages
According to the State Attorney’s Office, after the victim texted the “classmate” her Cash App account information, Vann arrived at the apartment complex — allegedly posing as both:
- The school-aged girl
- The “cheating boyfriend”
The State Attorney’s Office said the girl took a photo of Vann outside the complex while he was wearing plaid pajama pants.
Evidence cited by prosecutors
Prosecutors said Vann pressured the child into sex and sex acts in a secluded area while recording videos on a phone.
The State Attorney’s Office said an Altamonte Springs Police detective later:
- Connected the Snapchat accounts to Vann
- Recovered phone videos that investigators said showed the sexual battery
Prosecutors said the man in the videos wore the same plaid pajama pants as the man the child photographed.
Alleged murder-for-hire plot while jailed
Prosecutors said that while Vann was jailed in 2025 on the sex-crime case, he tried to hire a hitman to kill:
- The child victim
- The prosecutor
- The lead detective
According to the State Attorney’s Office, Vann asked a fellow inmate to arrange the killings through someone outside the jail and offered a BMW he owned as payment.
Prosecutors said Vann’s written directions included a plan to target the detective with a pipe bomb strapped to a remote-controlled car.
Authorities: “hitman” was undercover
The person Vann believed he had hired was actually an undercover deputy with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, prosecutors said. The operation began after a confidential informant tipped off law enforcement, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
What prosecutors told jurors
Assistant State Attorneys Stewart Stone, Domenick Leo, and Martine McCarthy handled the trial, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said they used evidence of the alleged solicitation to commit murder to argue the defendant showed a “consciousness of guilt” on the underlying sexual battery charges.
In a statement, Leo said:
“While no jury verdict can undo the harm inflicted upon the child victim, today’s sentence ensures that the defendant was held accountable and that the community is protected from further harm.”
Case reassigned to senior prosecutors
The State Attorney’s Office said it reassigned Vann’s cases to other senior prosecutors before trial. The office said he was ultimately convicted and sentenced.