Seth Vanover

A former Longview police lieutenant charged with looking for sex with girls on social media faces restrictions on digital devices he uses and will have his location monitored, according to the conditions of his release on bail.

Seth Estes Vanover, 50, of Diana was booked Oct. 12 into Smith County Jail on a federal detainer by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to online jail records. A 52-page complaint filed in the Eastern District of Texas showed his charge as attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

According to the complaint, a pair of users with different names on social media, which were traced to Vanover, chatted with two different undercover FBI agents in Florida and asked about having sex with girls he was told were 9 and 11.

According to a statement released Oct. 13 by the Longview Police Department, which did not initially release Vanover’s name, he submitted his resignation “after being made aware of the investigation.”

Online federal court records show Vanover was released Oct. 13 on $50,000 bail into the custody of a third party — his wife — pending his initial appearance in court. The judge in the Eastern District of Texas ordered Vanover to appear where the charges are pending, which is in the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville.

As a new case file was opened in that court, the conditions of Vanover’s release were unsealed.

The conditions limit Vanover to a “24-hour-a-day lock-down” at his residence “except for medical necessities and court appearances or other activities specifically approved by the court.”

Vanover is not to possess any firearms and use alcohol. He was required to submit to location-monitoring technology, and he is not to use any device that can connect to the internet or store digital information other than what is approved by the U.S. Probation Office.

According to the document, Vanover must allow the office to install software on any approved device that will record his activity.

The conditions also require Vanover to “disclose all online account information, including user names and passwords …” and to “… not have contact of any kind with children under the age or 18 unless supervised by an adult approved by the probation officer.”