MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former pastor and coach pled guilty Monday to producing child sexual abuse materials involving three minors, transporting a minor interstate with the intent to engage in sexual activity, sending obscene videos and images to a minor, and possessing and transporting child sexual abuse material, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
According to information presented in court, Joshua Henley, 33, was a pastor at Holladay Church of Christ in Benton County, Tennessee, and coached the Holladay Elementary School girl’s basketball team in 2018. Henley took a position at a church in Evansville, Indiana in April 2021.
Henley drove to Tennessee to pick up a girl, identified as Minor C, and took her back to Indiana so she could help at his Vacation Bible School in Indiana. While they were in Indiana, Henley had sex with the girl, who had just turned 15.
The teen later disclosed that Henley engaged in sexual activity with her since she was 13 and asked her to take sexually explicit pictures and send them to him.
While Henley was in Indiana with the teen, another 15-year-old girl, identified as Minor B, disclosed to a trusted adult that Henley also asked her to send sexually explicit images to him in 2020.
Henley was arrested on June 18, 2021, as he was driving Minor C back to Benton County.
Investigators found a cell phone in his possession that contained sexually explicit images of both teens as well as a video of Henley having sex with another teen. Metadata indicated the image was taken on November 6, 2020, just a few months after the third girl turned 14.
Henley has worked with young people in several other states including Indiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, according to the Department of Justice.
His sentencing is set for August 23 in Jackson, Tennessee. He will be incarcerated for at least 15 years and may be sentenced to a term of up to life in prison.
