A Texas man was arrested on Monday, months after he allegedly devised an online sting operation that ended with him killing a registered sex offender.
James Lewis Spencer III, 24, was accused of fatally shooting Sean Connery Showers, 37, who was found dead in a ditch in Houston last May. Showers’ phone, which was discovered under his body, showed he was planning to meet someone at Montie Beach Park, according to KTRK.
An investigation uncovered that Spencer and Showers communicated via Kik, an online app. Spencer was reportedly posing as a minor, and the pair had planned to meet at the park for sex, 179th District Court prosecutor Rehman Merchant, said.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed a vehicle pulling up and firing several shots at Showers. Spencer’s cell phone data allegedly placed him at the crime scene.
According to KHOU, Spencer had told someone that he knew how to track sex offenders on an app and he wished to hurt and rob them. He allegedly later told the same person that he would resort to vigilantism if the police were not going to do anything.
KTRK reported that Showers had a 2009 child porn conviction for which he spent 30 months in federal prison. Records also indicated that he was sentenced in 2019 to two years in prison for failing to register as a sex offender.
Spencer, who is charged with murder, remains jailed on a $250,000 bond. He is due back in court on February 5.
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[Feature Photo: James Spencer/Houston Police Department]
