Pastor, Former Coach Arrested on Four Counts of Child Sexual Abuse
A pastor and former volunteer girls’ basketball coach has been arrested in Tennessee on multiple child sexual abuse charges.
Joshua Burton Henley, 32, currently from Newburg, Indiana, and formerly of Holladay, Tennessee, was charged with one count of aggravated sexual battery and three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure by the Attorney General’s Office in Tennessee’s 24th District.
Authorities said the case involves multiple victims ranging in age from 12 to 16 years of age in three states. Law enforcement officials said they believe there may be additional victims who have not yet been identified.
The A.G.’s office said Henley is currently employed as a youth minister at Washington Avenue Church of Christ in Evansville, Indiana. He formerly was a pastor at Holladay Community Church and an unpaid volunteer girls’ basketball coach at Holladay Primary School in Holladay, Tennessee.
District Attorney Matthew F. Stowe said, “This case typifies the issues that law enforcement face in dealing with sexual crimes involving minors, which have increased in the wake of the imposed COVID isolation.”
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Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Benton County Sheriff’s Department, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the District Attorney’s Office have worked together in investigating the case.
Henley is being held at the Benton County Jail on a $500,000 bond awaiting arraignment.
