The Brief
- A San Antonio man was sentenced to 200 years in prison for a string of violent crimes that included the 2023 murders of two men he met through a dating app.
- Jer Auntey Pleasant, 25, used the app Grindr to lure and kill his victims before being linked to the scenes through ballistics, fingerprints, and phone records.
- The sentence also covers prior convictions for the aggravated robbery of another app user and the 2022 sexual assault of a 13-year-old child.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A San Antonio man was sentenced to four concurrent 50-year prison terms for a string of violent crimes, including the murders of two men he lured using a dating app, the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney shared on Sunday.
Judge Kristina Escalona of the 186th District Court handed down the sentence to Jer Auntey Pleasant, 25, following his conviction for the 2023 killings of Larry Wilson and Joseph West. In addition to the murder charges, Pleasant was convicted of aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Crimes linked through evidence
Pleasant’s two-day string of violent crimes began in April 2023. On April 14, Wilson was found shot to death in his vehicle. Investigators accessed Wilson’s phone and uncovered messages with Pleasant, who identified himself as “Derek” on the Grindr dating app.
The following day, West was discovered in his apartment with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Ballistics testing later confirmed the same firearm was used in both homicides. Fingerprint evidence found at both crime scenes further linked Pleasant to the murders, allowing authorities to quickly connect the cases.
History of violent offenses
Court records show Pleasant’s criminal activity began at least a year before the murders. In March 2022, he committed an aggravated robbery under similar circumstances, meeting a victim through the same dating app before shooting them during an attempt to steal their belongings.…