Hendersonville man sentenced to 100 years in prison on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A judge has sentenced a Hendersonville man to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole or parole on sexual exploitation of a minor charges.

According to an assistant district attorney, the state introduced images taken by Jay Chandler that showed Chandler performing sex acts with a 9-year-old in the summer of 2017. These images were separate from other child sexual abuse material for which Chandler had previously been convicted. .

“(The images) showed the court that Mr. Chandler had been sexually abusing children for years,” Assistant District Attorney Nathan Nichols said in an email to News 2.

In August, a jury found Chandler guilty of 54 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The execution of a search warrant in November 2022 at Chandler’s residence led to the discovery of numerous electronic devices that Nichols said revealed “thousands of images depicting child sexual abuse.”

Chandler also has two other pending cases that will be tried after his sentencing hearing. These cases involve two victims, according to Nichols. One of those victims is an 8-year-old girl who Chandler allegedly raped in 2017, while the other victim is 16. News 2 previously reported that Chandler was the supervisor of a teenage victim at a restaurant.

Officers began investigating Chandler in October 2022 when the matter was first brought to the attention of the teen victim’s mother, according to an affidavit.