“I was in the middle of an oil change and my friend who was working there came into the back and was like, ‘There are two detectives here, Zach. Two months later, detectives showed up at Zach’s job at a mechanic shop. Unbeknownst to them, the girl’s mother had called police that night because she thought her daughter was missing. Zach picked the then-14-year-old girl up and they drove to a playground in Niles, where they had sex. “But she was 18, and I was 18, and I kind of just did it to get, you know, to do it, because I was 18.” “I had been with one other girl before that,” Zach said. Zach said after they connected, they flirted through text messages and arranged to meet in her hometown of Niles, Michigan, 20 miles across the state line from Zach’s home in Indiana. The then-14-year-old girl falsely registered on the “adults” section of the dating app. I didn't think that was a big deal or anything.” I said, ‘How old are you?’ And then she had told me 17… I just got out of high school. “ was actually the first person I had met up with or anything from that,” Zach said. He says he was on the dating app “Hot or Not” for about a week when he started talking to the 14-year-old. Like many teens, he turned to his smart phone to find a date one night.
Zach graduated high school just last year. His parents say his punishment is cruel and unusual, and they are waging a very public fight, even setting up a Facebook page, hoping to rally support for their son.