WAUPACA (NBC 26) — A Madison priest accused of child sex crimes was formally charged in Waupaca County on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Andrew Showers was caught in a police sting operation while attempting to arrange sex with a person he thought was a Clintonville child.
According to a criminal complaint, Showers was actually in communication with a Clintonville Police sergeant who was posing as a 14-year-old.
Showers sent a photo of himself with his genitals partially exposed and requested to meet the fictitious 14-year-old in person, according to the complaint. Conversations between the suspect and the undercover sergeant became sexually explicit, investigators said, and a meet up was arranged at a park in Clintonville.
Officers identified Showers alone in a car pulling up to the meet up location, and he was taken into custody without incident. The complaint states the suspect had room keys for a hotel in Clintonville.
Showers was charged with attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, attempted child enticement (expose genitals, pubic area or intimate parts) and attempted use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.
According to the Diocese of Madison, Showers was the parochial vicar at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Madison. He previously served in Berlin and Green Lake.
Showers was ordained in 2017, the Diocese said.
Showers is scheduled to appear in court on Sep. 30.
