HARRISON (KFSM) — Former Lovin’ Spoonful musician Jerry Yester, best known for playing piano on the band’s 1960s hit “Do You Believe In Magic,” has been sentenced to two years in prison for downloading child pornography.
Yester, 74, reached a plea deal last fall in Boone County Circuit Court, admitting to eight counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.
He will have to register as a sex offender.
Yester initially faced 30 counts of possessing child pornography, a Class C felony.
Agents with the state Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit arrested Yester in October 2017 after linking the illegal 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.
