YouTube star gets 10 years in prison for persuading underage girls to send him sexually explicit videos

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN
Updated 1221 GMT (2021 HKT) May 4, 2019

(CNN) — YouTube singer Austin Jones has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for asking underage girls to send him sexually explicit videos of themselves to prove that they're fans.

Jones, 26, crooned a capella covers of popular songs and performed on tour nationwide. Most of the fans of the suburban Chicago singer were teenage girls.

In 2017, he was arrested on two counts of production of child pornography. Jones admitted to enticing six underage girls to make pornographic videos of themselves and send them to him, according to a plea agreement. The girls were as young as 14.

He pleaded guilty in February, and on Friday, US. District Judge John Z. Lee sentenced him to 10 years in federal prison.

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Friday, February 1, 2019

Suburban Musician Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge for Enticing Underage Girls to Produce Sexually Explicit Videos

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Jones is a musician with a significant following on social media, including Facebook and YouTube. His online music videos have been viewed millions of times.

Jones admitted in a plea agreement that in 2016 and 2017 he chatted with six underage girls on Facebook and enticed them to produce pornographic videos of themselves and send them to him. Jones told some of his victims to send him the videos as a way to “prove” that they were his biggest fans, the plea agreement states. He also told some of his victims that the videos were part of a modeling opportunity, and that he could assist them in gaining followers on the social media site Instagram, the plea agreement states.

In addition to the six victims whom he enticed to send videos, Jones further admitted in the plea agreement that he used Facebook on approximately 30 other occasions to attempt to persuade minor girls to send him sexually explicit videos and photographs.

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