YouTube star Austin Jones, 24, who has 500,000 followers is arrested for ‘child abuse images after getting two 14-year-old girls to send him sex videos’
Jones is accused of telling one girl he wanted her to prove her claim she was his 'biggest fan'
A 24-YEAR-OLD singer with millions of teenage followers is facing charges for instructing two 14-year-old fans to make sexual videos of themselves and send them to him, cops say.
Austin Jones is accused of encouraging them to make the videos and telling one he wanted her to prove her claim she was his "biggest fan".
Jones's music videos have garnered millions of views on YouTube and he's parlayed his online popularity into tours, most recently to parts of Europe.
A federal complaint alleges that in May 2017, and August 2016, he directed the girls how to perform sex acts, even telling them what to wear and say; he spoke about the videos as "try outs".
On several occasions, both victims expressed reservations about what they were doing, but Jones encouraged them to continue.
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So-called "Victim A" told Jones repeatedly that she was only 14, the filing said.
Jones appeared to understand what they were doing was wrong, telling "Victim B": "I seriously shouldn’t be talking to you.".
On another occasion, he told her: "I'm just trying to help you.
"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."
When asked this week by a judge if he understood he was charged with two counts of production of child pornography, he answered: "Yes, your honour".
He does original music and also covers the work of Justin Bieber and others. He has 228,000 Twitter followers and his "primary fan base appears to be teenage girls," the federal complaint stated.
Jones didn’t have his own lawyer and will enter a plea at an upcoming arraignment.
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