GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The last of seven West Michigan men confronted by a vigilante seeking out sexual predators has been sentenced, and he will not spend any more time in jail.
Monday, Jered Andrus was sentenced to 36 months probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
He was also given credit for time served in jail. Kent County Undersheriff Michelle Young told 24 Hour News 8 that Andrus spent about three hours in jail after his arrest before posting bond and being released.
Andrus and six other men were initially charged with accosting children for immoral purposes after they were featured in videos posted to Zach Sweers’ YouTube Channel, “Anxiety War.” In the videos, Sweers said he pretended to be a teenage girl online, arranged meetings with the men for sex and then confronted them. He then turned the videos and records of online conversations over to Grand Rapids police.
Andrus pleaded guilty in January to a lesser charge of attempting to accost children for immoral purposes. All seven men either took plea deals or were found guilty; none of them were ordered to spend additional time behind bars at sentencing.
Authorities told Sweers to stop trying to catch predators because it is dangerous. They said they won’t prosecute any more cases based on information he gives them.
Sweers was sued by two of the men in the videos, but those lawsuits have since been settled. All of the video confrontations have been removed from his YouTube channel.