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Former Santa Claus for kids’ parties sentenced for producing child porn in NC

Posted at 8:55 PM, Aug 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-30 20:55:33-04

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A man was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release for charges of producing child pornography.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said 65-year-old Leander Dewey Jones used to be employed as a Santa Claus and magician for kids’ parties.

Jones was discovered producing child porn of his two grandchildren while they were in his care, WTKR reports.

Leander Dewey Jones

Leander Dewey Jones

In May of 2015, Jones brought his desktop computer in for repair at a store in Raleigh.

While techs were examining the computer hard drive for viruses and malware, they located a folder containing child porn.

The tech alerted the store owner who then contacted Raleigh Police.

A search warrant was obtained and an examination of items seized revealed nearly 4,000 images of child porn on the computer and on the external hard drives.

In addition, 1,000 other images were also seized from CDs and floppy disks.

On May 9, 2016 Jones pled guilty to child porn charges and his sentencing was completed on August 30.