DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - A Macon man charged with grooming and sexually assaulting a child is out on pretrial release.

Dillon Patterson, 22, is accused of the crimes against a young girl.

According to a sworn statement, Patterson was said to have asked the underage girl for nude photographs several times.

The assault allegedly happened in Patterson's truck in July 2025 when the victim had walked to Macon Speedway to meet him. 

Patterson was said to have parked behind machinery when no one else was around, and the victim was later told not to tell anyone what happened before walking back home. 

A search warrant of the victim's phone found over 6,800 messages exchanged between Patterson and the victim on Snapchat. 

The messages leading up to and on the day of the assault were highly sexual in nature, according to the sworn statement. 

The sworn stated that Patterson told deputies during a Mirandized interview that he had messaged the victim as far back as July 2022, and knew she was several years younger than him.

Patterson will make his next court appearance on July 22.

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