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Former Lovin' Spoonful Member Pleads Not Guilty To Child Porn Charges

Former Lovin' Spoonful musician Jerry "Jerome" Yester has pleaded not guilty to downloading child pornography last summer.

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By
BRANDON HOWARD
HARRISON, AR — Former Lovin' Spoonful musician Jerry "Jerome" Yester has pleaded not guilty to downloading child pornography last summer.

Yester, 74, who is best known for playing piano on the band's 1960s hit "Do You Believe In Magic," is charged with 30 counts of possession of child pornography.

Agents with the Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit arrested Yester in October after linking the illicit material to his home, according to court documents.

Agents said they established a direct connection with a computer at Yester's home in Harrison, where more than 60 files of child pornography were uploaded to the Internet between July 2017 and August 2017.

Investigators said the images included nude girls between 10 and 12 years old, according to the documents.

Yester later called the agents and said he'd been looking at child pornography since 2000. Yester added that he had downloaded more explicit material than he previously told investigators, according to the documents.

Yester is free on a $35,000 bond. He has a pre-trial hearing set for Friday (Jan. 12) in Boone County Circuit Court.

Distributing, possessing, or viewing child pornography is a Class C felony in Arkansas, and the offense carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

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