CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A former Clarksville high school nurse facing a long list of charges pleaded guilty to child pornography charges on Wednesday.

Leon Hensley, 41, submitted his plea prior to the start of the trial which was scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Hensley is a former nurse from Northeast High School in Clarksville.

He was originally arrested in May 2021 following the allegation that he sent a photo of a naked female adult to a minor female in the Clarksville area. Authorities say he was communicating with the minor about posing for a photo shoot.

The investigation led authorities to search Hensley’s home, where they seized multiple electronic items. Among those was a small, covert video camera.

Photos of female minors at NEHS were found on his phone. Several hundred images were also discovered of minor females in a specific bathroom. Those images seemed to be taken by a concealed camera which was positioned in front of the toilet seat at seat level.

After checking the location data of the photos, they were found to have been taken in the private student bathroom in the nurse’s station at NEHS. More photos were found to be taken at Tennova Hospital in Clarksville, where Hensley was employed prior to his employment at NEHS. 

An indictment returned in June charged Hensley with 25 counts of attempting to produce child pornography and enticing or coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. 

He now faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison on each count and up to life in prison. He will be sentenced in February 2023.