MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former Tennessee pastor and girls’ basketball coach was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for producing and possessing sexually explicit images of a minor and transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sex, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz announced in a news release Monday.
Joshua Henley, 34, pleaded guilty in 2022.
Henley was the pastor at Holladay Church of Christ and coached the girls’ basketball team at Holladay Elementary in Benton County, Tennessee from 2017 until April 2021.
He left Tennessee to take a job as a youth pastor in Indiana, but returned in June 2021 to Benton County to pick up a teen under the guise that she was assisting him at his new church.
Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted the girl and was arrested as he drove her back to Tennessee.
They say he also had a cellphone containing explicit images of two other Tennessee teens via SnapChat and FaceTime. Both teens told authorities they had engaged in sexual activity with Hinton.
Henley will also face an additional 10 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
Ritz said Henley has worked with young people in other states including Oklahoma and Texas.