YouTube star Austin Jones pleads guilty to soliciting lewd photos from teen girls
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Austin Jones, 26, solicited lewd photos and videos from 14- and 15-year-old girls through Facebook, authorities say. (Twitter)
YouTube musician Austin Jones pleaded guilty to coercing six teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit photos, according to reports.
The plea was entered seven months after Jones, 26, was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport upon returning from an international tour. He faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Jones, of Bloomington, Ill., was initially charged with two counts of production of child pornography.
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Prosecutors said Jones solicited lewd photos and videos from 14- and 15-year-old girls from August 2016 to May 2017 through Facebook. He tried to solicit photos and videos from 30 other girls before he was arrested, authorizes believe.
Jones admitted requesting and receiving videos, FOX 32 in Chicago reported. He allegedly told the victims that he was giving them modeling opportunities that required them to strip for him.
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He is scheduled to be sentenced May 3 and will be allowed to stay out of jail to continue his therapy prior to his incarceration.
Jones’ music is described online as “earnest, emo-influenced melodic pop music." the Chicago Sun-Times reported. His primary fan base appears to be “teenage girls," prosecutors said. He has 500,000 around subscribers to his YouTube page.