'He was set up': Man used dating app to lure 2 men on separate days to meet up with him, then shot and killed them both

Inset: Jer Auntey Pleasant (Bexar County Sheriff's Office). Background: A parking lot in Banyan Tree Apartments in San Antonio, Tex., where one of the victims was killed (Google Maps). 

A man in Texas will spend the great majority of his life in a prison cell for using a dating app to lure men into a trap and then killing them.

Jer Auntey Pleasant, 25, was sentenced on Friday to four 50-year sentences in prison for the murders of 54-year-old Larry Wilson and 22-year-old Joseph West, as well as for aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault of a child, the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney's Office said.

All the sentences are set to run at the same time.

Pleasant's crimes began in March 2022, when he met a victim through Grindr, which brands itself as "the world's largest social networking app" for the LGBTQ community. When they met up, Pleasant "shot the victim during a robbery attempt," the DA's office said.

In July of that year, Pleasant sexually assaulted a 13-year-old child, with DNA evidence identifying him as the perpetrator, the prosecutorial agency added.

Authorities suggested that the now-sentenced defendant had a modus operandi that he carried over into 2023.

"On two consecutive days in April 2023, Pleasant committed two separate murders," the DA's office said.

Under the name "Derek" on Grindr, Pleasant had been chatting with Wilson, and he arranged for the two of them to meet at the Banyan Tree Apartments in San Antonio, local NBC and The CW affiliate WOAI reported.

On April 14, 2023, they met, and Pleasant fatally shot Wilson.

"The following day, April 15, West was discovered in his apartment with a fatal gunshot wound to the head," the DA's office said. "Key evidence, including fingerprints matching Pleasant were found at both crime scenes, with ballistics confirming that the same firearm was used, allowing local authorities to quickly connect and solve both cases."

One of the relevant pieces of evidence at both crime scenes was Pleasant's fingerprint on condom wrappers, according to WOAI.

"I feel in my heart he was set up," Larry Wilson's brother, Johnny Wilson, told local CBS affiliate KENS the month of the murders. "Them dating apps nowadays. You've got to watch out. It can be setups."