Former Benton County Pastor, Coach Indicted on Child Exploitation Charges

Memphis, TN – Joshua Henley, 32, of Evansville, Indiana, has been indicted for using three minors to create sexual abuse material and for transporting a minor interstate to engage in criminal sexual activity. Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr., announced the indictment today.

Henley served as pastor of the Holladay Church of Christ in Holladay, Tennessee, and as a girls’ basketball coach at Holladay Elementary School (K-8) from approximately 2017 through March 2021. He previously held similar positions in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, and was working as a youth pastor in Indiana until his arrest.

Henley is charged with four counts of producing child sexual exploitation material and one count each of transporting and possessing such materials; one count of transporting a minor interstate to engage in criminal sexual activity; and one count of sending obscene material to a minor under sixteen.

If convicted on all counts, Henley could face up to 160 years in federal prison. The case, number 1:21-cr-10064, is pending before Chief Federal District Court Judge S. Thomas Anderson in Jackson, Tennessee. There is no parole in the federal system.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation, with technical assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Anyone with additional information on this or other cases involving sexual exploitation of minors is asked to contact investigators at the FBI Resident Agency in Jackson, Tennessee, or the Sheriff’s Office in Benton County.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations of criminal conduct, not evidence. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted through due process of law.

Assistant United States Attorney Debra Ireland is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

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