CLINTONVILLE, Wis. (WFRV) – More details have emerged surrounding a Madison priest who is now officially facing multiple charges related to Attempted Sexual Assault of a Child in Clintonville.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Local Five, an officer with the Clintonville Police Department began an undercover online investigation on August 10, where they posed as a 14-year-old girl on an online messaging platform.
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Posing as the child, the officer posted on the messaging platform that they were a girl looking for a man and asked if there was anyone from Wisconsin.
Officers say someone claiming to be a 36-year-old man from Madison messaged the account.
The criminal complaint states that the officer running the account indicated to the man that they were a 14-year-old.
Police report that the messages from the man continued to get more and more sexually explicit.
According to the criminal complaint, arrangements were made for the man to meet and pick her up at Clintonville’s Pigeon Lake/Wayside Park.
At 6:00 p.m. on August 24, officers set up at the park waiting for the man to arrive. At 7:29 p.m., police say a vehicle meeting the description of the suspect pulled into the park.
Officers then stopped the vehicle and confirmed that the driver matched the person in the photos privately messaged to the fake account.
37-year-old Andrew J. Showers of Madison was then arrested without any further incident. After his arrest, he issued an apology letter claiming that he put his own desires before her well-being and stated, “I am sorry that you were the recipient and victim of my poor decisions and selfish pursuits.”
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Court records show that Showers has since been officially charged with the following:
- Attempt Use a Computer to Facilitate a Child Sex Crime
- Attempt Child Enticement-Expose Genitals/Pubic Area/Intimate Parts
- Attempt 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of Child
His initial appearance in court was scheduled for September 30, at 9:45 a.m. Back in late August his cash bond was set at $10,000.
