Former Kennesaw youth minister, magician pleads guilty to child pornography

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A former youth minister and magician who went by the name “Magic Jeff” pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge Tuesday in an agreement that could get him 20 years in prison and a lifetime on probation.

Jeffrey Alan Wasley, 38, came to the attention of law enforcement in late 2008 after he approached two boys in a restroom at a Target. In the following investigation, local and federal authorities found more than 17,000 images of child pornography on his computers, including videos Wasley surreptitiously took of boys using public bathrooms.

“This case is a sobering reminder that there are troubled and dangerous people in our community who will go to great lengths to gain sexual access to our children,” U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said in a written statement released after Wasley pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography.

Wasley agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of no more than 20 years in federal prison, which does not allow for parole. Once he is released, Wasley will be on probation for the rest of his life if U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper agrees with the recommendations. Wasley has agreed that he will not appeal if his punishment is no more than what was outlined in his agreement with federal prosecutors.

He will be sentenced June 10.

Wasley, wearing prison-issued orange pants and orange sweatshirt and his ankles in chains, answered the judge’s questions clearly when asked if he was guilty of the charge. He has been in jail since Cobb County SWAT officers and Secret Service agents arrested him at his house on Dec. 11, 2008.

Before he was taken into custody, Wasley barricaded himself in his garage and tried to kill himself by slitting his wrist and neck and stabbing himself in the chest. Federal agents said they found a note Wasley had written to his wife and children apologizing. They also found a novel Wasley had written about a man who was abused as a child and later became a molester as an adult.

Wasley was a youth minister at  Calvary Jesus Church at Kennesaw and often went by the name “Magic Jeff” when he performed for children at hospitals and schools. At one time, he was a magician at American Adventures amusement park in Marietta.

He was first arrested in July 2008 for approaching two boys -- ages 5 and 7 -- in the restroom at a Kennesaw Target store. One of the boys told his mother Wasley had tried to tuck in his shirt.

“This defendant, while appearing to offer a helping hand to young boys, was secretly satisfying his unnatural desires,” Yates said.

When store security officers saw Wasley back at the Target a few days after his encounter with the two boys, they copied his license plate and gave the information to Cobb County police.

Eventually other children told police their stories of Wasley. A 9-year-old said "something happened" when he was once with Wasley. A 16-year-old boy said Wasley had fondled him after a magic show eight years earlier.

Agents discovered one of Wasley's seized computers had almost 12,000 images, including 90 videos, of suspected child pornography. Another seized computer had about 5,000 pornographic images.

There also were six videos of boys using public bathrooms that Wasley took, authorities said. The camera he used was imported into the United States and that led to the federal charge, assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney said in court Tuesday.

Pat Head, the district attorney for Cobb County, said the state case against Wasley was pending.