YouTube Singer Austin Jones Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison on Child Porn Charges
YouTube singer Austin Jones was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty in February of child pornography charges.
Jones was arrested in June 2017 after two underage girls accused the then-23-year-old Jones of coercing them into sending him sexually explicit videos in order ” to ‘prove’ they were his biggest fans,” the Department of Justice said.
One girl admitted that she made 15 videos for Jones in what she called an “audition.” The other girl said she sent 25 videos, including eight sexually explicit videos, to Jones. In both cases, Jones acknowledged his victims’ age in the videos.
According to the criminal complaint, Jones – who previously faced criticism after asking young girls to send him twerking videos in 2015 – messaged to one of his victims of the video she should send, “At the beginning, get super close and say these lines: hey Austin, it’s (name) and this butt is (age) years old and then make it clap for 30 seconds. Got it?”
Jones was initially charged with two counts of production of child pornography and faced 15 years in prison; four more underage girls came forward with similar claims, with Jones admitting he reached to as many as 30 girls.
Jones had 500,000 YouTube subscribers at the time of his arrest; his channel was shut down in February after he pleaded guilty. Jones’ legal team sought for a five-year sentence while prosecutors pushed for 11 years, the Associated Press reported.
“Production and receipt of child pornography are extraordinarily serious offenses that threaten the safety of our children and communities,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Neff Welsh said (via CNN). “Jones’ actions took something from his victims and their families that they will never be able to get back.”