Former YouTube star Austin Jones pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography on February 1.
The Chicago area 26-year-old rose to YouTube stardom after uploading his music videos to the site in 2013. Even following the child pornography charges, Jones still has 500,000 subscribers to his YouTube page. According to prosecutors, Jones solicited lewd photos and videos from his underage fans via Facebook messages.
The complaint against Jones lays out conversations that Jones had with two 14-year-old girls, pressuring them to send explicit material and even saying that the photos could be turned into a modeling opportunity or an increased Instagram following. In one conversation, he reportedly asked a fan to twerk on camera, saying "make it clap super loud and talk about your age the whole time."
“I know you’re trying your hardest to prove you’re my biggest fan. And I don’t want to have to find someone else,” he allegedly said to one fan who was reticent to take her clothes off.
Jones admitted in a plea agreement that he talked six underage girls into sending him photos and videos in 2016 and 2017. He also admitted that he attempted to solicit photos on 30 some-odd other occasions. Jones is facing a minimum of 5 years in prison, with a maximum possible sentence of 20 years. Thought these charges are just now coming down, stories of Jones' misdeeds circulated for several years, with young girls coming forward with accounts of inappropriate behavior after he was added to the 2015 iteration of Warped Tour.
Jones' sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 3.
