Austin Jones, the 24-year-old musician and YouTube star, was arrested Monday and is facing two counts of production of child pornography. A criminal complaint alleges the singer asked two 14-year-old fans to send him videos; in some of those videos, the girls exposed their genitals.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the federal complaint against Jones says that one of the girls sent a video to the performer at his request through Facebook in May, noting that she was “only 14” when they were in contact. The complaint says he also knew the other girl was 14, the paper reported.
In 2015 a change.org petition circulated calling for Jones to be removed from the Warped Tour for soliciting such videos, alleging that he would ask young fans to send him inappropriate videos after chatting with them online. Alternative Press reported that he later apologized on Facebook for having “communicated with my fans in a way that I have come to fully realize was not appropriate. … Here’s the truth: I NEVER asked them to do anything more than send a twerking video. Nothing EVER went beyond that.”
Jones could face 15 years in prison.