WILMINGTON, N.C.– A former Raleigh Santa and magician for children’s parties was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty in May to manufacturing child pornography.
Leander Dewey Jones, now 65, of Raleigh will also have a lifetime of supervised of release if he is ever released from prison, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said.
Jones, who was employed as a Santa Claus and magician, was discovered producing child porn of two relatives, documents show.
Authorities say Jones created the images while caring for the children.
On May 29, 2015, Jones brought his computer in for repair. While examining the computer for viruses and malware, the computer technician located a folder containing child porn.
The technician alerted the store owner.
The owner then called Raleigh Police, who issued a search warrant of the computer and found about 4,000 images of child porn on Jones’ computer as well as on external hard drives.
Authorities also found about 1,000 images of child porn on CD’s and other discs.
