A tech sales executive accused of trying to lure a missing girl across the country for sex is still a free man despite sickening charges – and police won’t say why.
Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, allegedly spent months grooming Alisa Petrov, 15, after getting in contact via Instagram through her secret iPad.
He slowly gained her trust and police alleged convinced her to send him nude photos and engage in perverted sexual fantasies before agreeing to meet in person.
Alisa suddenly disappeared from her school in Utah on April 21, and messages between the two revealed they had arranged to meet in Las Vegas.
Police believe they never actually met, but Alisa has not been seen or heard from since she was spotted asking for help to get a bus ticket to Las Vegas.
Menard last week was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and three counts of criminal solicitation.
Police seized his phone at his home in Miami on April 30, but he was never arrested, even after a search of his device allegedly uncovered disturbing messages.
South Jordan Police in Utah, which is leading the case, told DailyMail.com that Menard was not on the run, but refused to say why he wasn’t in custody, despite a no-bail warrant being filed by the Utah Attorney General.
Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, from Miami was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation.
Alisa Petrov, 15, disappeared after she was dropped off at her school in American Fork, Utah, on April 21 and hasn’t been seen since that day
The Miami Police Department refused to explain why Menard was not in custody, or even confirm South Jordan police asked it to help.
‘City of Miami PD is always willing to assist other agencies if the call upon us. If there was an investigation from the City of Miami we would not share that information,’ it said.
Every other police agency in South Florida said they were not involved in the case and the FBI said it was only helping in the search for Alisa, and referred questions to South Jordan PD.
Menard’s lawyers, Collins Rupp in Bountiful, north of Salt Lake City, did not return calls.
A second man Alisa was talking to, identified by police as William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, was arrested on May 8 and remains in custody.
His charges alleged he started talking to Alisa on February 3 and at one point said he was ‘double checking’ that she was 14 or 15.
Many other conversations detailed in charging documents included explicit sexual language and nude photos.
Glines was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation.
He was also charged by police in Texas with possessing more than 50 child sexual abuse images or videos. He is yet to enter a plea.
Police have not said if Menard and Glines knew each other.
‘My youngest and his sweetie,’ Menard’s mother Elizabeth wrote next to a photo of the couple in January. It’s not clear if they were still together when he was charged
Menard works as a client executive at cybersecurity firm Acronis and previously at the cloud computing company ITsavvy, which was bought by Xerox last year, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn profile.
He described himself as a ‘results-oriented sales professional with a passion for building strong client relations’.
The youngest of four brothers, Menard grew up in Noblesville outside Indianapolis, with his parents Elizabeth and Oliver, who died in 2023.
He moved first to Chicago, then to Miami and brought home a pretty, blonde girlfriend to Thanksgiving last year, where they all wore matching ‘thankful for family’ jumpers.
‘My youngest and his sweetie,’ Elizabeth wrote next to a photo of the pair in January. It’s not clear if they were still together when he was charged.
But beneath Menard’s clean-cut, designer stubbled face was allegedly a depraved desire to sexually abuse young girls.
Police detailed in affidavits the disturbing messages between Alisa and Menard dating back to January 17.
‘At one point [Menard] asked [the girl], “Are u secretly 15 lol” to which [she] responded… “of course [y]eppers I’m actually in middle school”,’ police wrote in charging affidavits.
Menard’s now-deleted LinkedIn describes him as a ‘results-oriented sales professional with a passion for building strong client relations’
Beneath Menard’s clean-cut, designer stubbled face was allegedly a depraved desire
Despite allegedly knowing how young she was, they continued to talk and ‘the conversations are largely sexual in nature’.
‘[Menard] over the course of several months, corresponded with [the teen] for the purpose of soliciting sex, sodomy, and child sex abuse material from the minor,’ the affidavit continued.
‘[He] discussed in graphic detail his intent to sexually abuse the child. [He] encouraged and engaged with [the teen] all from the state of Florida, where all his substantial ties to the community and resources are.’
Some of the texts included in the affidavit included incredibly graphic descriptions of sexual acts he allegedly wanted to perform on the teen.
Eventually, the pair made plans to meet in Las Vegas – where Alisa told witnesses she was heading – and then go to Menard’s home in Miami.
‘Matt tells the victim he will fly to Las Vegas for a business trip later in May, and she can lay low until he gets there,’ the warrant stated.
‘They then planned to fly to Los Angeles, CA, together for several days, before ultimately going back to Miami, FL, where Matt lives.’
Alisa secretly made the plans with Menard using a long-forgotten iPad she dug out of a dusty box and hid in dresser, her mother said.
The device was only found when police rummaged through the family’s suburban home in American Fork, about 32 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Alisa skipped school and got on a train to Provo, Utah, then tried to go to Las Vegas to meet one of the alleged pedophiles. He planned to fly her to his home in Miami via Los Angeles
She was spotted on surveillance footage making a purchase at a local gas station before boarding a UTA train.
On April 21, Alisa was dropped off at her school, Canyon Grove Academy. But instead of going to class, she bought supplies at a nearby gas station and convinced a man there to drive her to the local train station.
She got off the train in Provo, about 14 miles south of American Fork, and asked multiple people there to help her get a bus ticket to Las Vegas.
The teenager hasn’t been seen since, and no one knows where she went, who she is with, or how much danger she is in.
‘[Police] say they cannot guarantee [that Alisa is still alive], but there was no indication that she’s not,’ Alisa’s mother, Olga Petrov, told DailyMail.com.
‘They say they still have some leads… but we have no idea what kind of leads, they’re not saying anything.’
Olga said she and her husband, Nikolai, were vigilant in protecting their daughter and educated her about the dangers of talking to strangers online.
‘We regularly check her phone and there was nothing suspicious. Everything seemed to be normal, just classmates, neighbors,’ she said.
‘We never thought she could be talking to strangers in this way.’
The worried mother hoped Alisa was just staying away because ‘I would assume she’s really embarrassed.’
Alisa as a young girl with her parents Olga and Nikolai Petrov, who did all they could to keep their daughter safe from dangers lurking in the shadows
Olga (pictured with a young Alisa) said the iPad was so well hidden that she and her husband missed it when they searched their house for clues after she didn’t come home
She said Alisa didn’t have much money and that she didn’t have a coat, even though it was below 40 degrees on some of nights after she went missing.
‘So somebody else is either helping her and we don’t know who or where… I’m not suspecting the worst,’ Olga said.
‘That means she’s with somebody else and we don’t know if it’s a good person or a bad person.’
Olga believes Menard and Glines likely lied about their ages and sent her fake or younger photos of themselves to lure her in.
‘I don’t believe that was her idea talking to those guys, I think they convinced her to keep talking to them,’ she said.
‘She told them she is a minor and they still proceeded with the nasty stuff, which is really gross.’
Alisa was very trusting of people and liked to strike up conversations with others in the park while hiking or on family holidays.
Instead of going to class, Alisa went to a nearby convenience store and bought supplies, which was caught on CCTV, then got on a UTA train to Provo
William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, allegedly had graphic sexual conversations with Alisa before she ran away
‘She was always trying to meet people to talk to people, like I mean she was just trusting, and we cautioned her about it all the time to at least to be careful,’ her mother said.
‘That’s just how she is… and they took advantage of her.’
Olga said Alisa wanted to study forensics and was taking some AP classes this semester before she went missing.
‘Everything was really good, but those guys messed everything up,’ she said.
Glines was arrested after being identified through a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The probable cause affidavit detailed equally disturbing conversations between Glines and Alisa, including how he convinced he to send nude photos and videos.
‘[Alisa] expresses feeling extremely uncomfortable and anxious sending pictures and photos of herself, to the point it made her want to self-harm,’ it alleged.
She was so uncomfortable that on one occasion when Glines allegedly threatened to punish her if she refused, she asked for the punishment instead.
Alisa wanted to study forensics and was already doing some AP classes this semester before she went missing
Alisa was very trusting of people and liked to strike up conversations with people in the park, while hiking, or on family holidays
Alisa asked multiple people to help her get to Las Vegas
He told her to beat herself with a piece of wood or a hairbrush as hard as she could, explaining ‘I’m a sadist’.
‘I’m just saying if the average person knew I was talking to you they’d want to cut my f**king d**k [off],’ he said during another conversation.
Petrov’s desperate family are offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information on her whereabouts.
They set up a website with a desperate appeal to the teen.
‘Alisa, if you can see this, please know that we love you, we will always love you. We miss you. All of your friends and our friends are very worried too,’ her parents wrote.
Whether Alisa made it to Las Vegas and met either of the men is unclear, as is what happened to her after she was seen in Provo, Utah
Petrov’s desperate family are offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information on her whereabouts
‘We all want you to return. You will not get in trouble for running away. We are not mad at you. We absolutely love you regardless of what happened.
‘We just want you to return back so that we are together as a happy family who care about each other, and we will try our hardest to make you happy. Please come back.’
Police have classified the teen as an endangered runaway.
She is described as standing about 5-foot-3 and weighing about 122 pounds.
Surveillance footage from the gas station showed her wearing a white shirt with darker lettering on the front.
