Former You Tube Star Austin Jones Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Child Porn, Demanded Explicit Videos From His Teenage Fans
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Former You Tube star Austin Jones was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday after he admitted to pressuring underage fans online into sending him sexually-explicit videos.
Prosecutors were asking for an 11-year prison sentence. He faced a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Jones, 26, of Bloomingdale, known for covering songs from Justin Bieber and Fallout Boy, pleaded guilty in February to receiving child porn.
His victims were 14 and 15 years old.
Prosecutors said he told the young girls how to pose, and instructed them what to say to him in the videos they were told to send.
Jones' lawyer said he has lived a troubled life that has included abuse, loss and death.
He admitted in a plea agreement that in 2016 and 2017, he chatted with six underage girls on Facebook and enticed them to produce lewd videos of themselves and sent them to him.
A federal complaint details videos and conversations Jones had with two 14-year-old girls.
In one, the complaint says, he tried to get a girl to take all her clothes off, telling her, "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 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 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 photos.
