Austin Jones (musician)

Austin Henry Jones (born December 12, 1992)[3] is an American former musician and convicted sex offender, who was active as a YouTuber from 2007 to 2017, prior to his arrest for production of child pornography in 2017 and conviction in 2019. In 2015, Jones apologized after a video of him allegedly teaching an underage girl to twerk surfaced, with many exposing him and/or calling him out.[4]

Austin Jones
Born
Austin Henry Jones

(1992-12-12) December 12, 1992
Chicago, Illinois U.S.
OccupationMusician
Years active2007–2017
Criminal chargeProduction of child pornography[1]
Criminal penalty10 years in federal prison
Criminal statusIncarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto. Earliest possible release date December 31, 2027.[1]
YouTube information
Genre(s)Music (cover music, emo, pop punk)
Subscribers547,000+ before channel was terminated
Total views41.4 million+ before channel was terminated[2]
100,000 subscribers

After accumulating around 540,000 subscribers and over 20 million video views, Jones became more widely known due to his arrest for sexual misconduct involving minors and his possession and production of child pornography.[3][4][5] On February 6, 2019, all his social media accounts were permanently terminated.[6][7] On May 3, 2019, Jones was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography.[8]

Career

Jones began releasing music in 2007 and started writing his own material in 2010. In 2014, he released an EP titled We'll Fall Together, which ended up at number 12 on the iTunes pop chart. In 2016, Jones released a full-length album titled Pitch Imperfect.[9] Jones also made videos of a cappella covers of songs by various alternative bands, such as My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade", Panic! at the Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Goin Down" and Twenty One Pilots' entire Blurryface album.[10][11][12]

Controversy and incarceration

On May 10, 2015, the music website PupFresh reported that Jones had contacted multiple underage female fans online, each time persuading the girl to twerk on video for him and also giving her directions on how to perform the act while being recorded.[13] A Change.org petition started by an anonymous 15-year-old girl to revoke his planned participation in the upcoming Vans Warped Tour surfacing in light of these events did not accumulate enough signatures, but Jones eventually withdrew from the tour and addressed the allegations in a video he uploaded to his channel, "Setting the Record Straight". He admitted that the allegations were correct and apologized for his actions, while denying that nudity was involved in any of the videos he recorded or any of the webcam conversations.[14][15]

On June 9, 2017, a United States Magistrate Judge signed a search warrant for Jones's residence in Bloomingdale, Illinois. On June 12, 2017, Homeland Security Investigations executed that search warrant. On the same day, Jones was arrested at O'Hare International Airport by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Homeland Security Investigations on two counts of producing child pornography (once in 2016 and once in 2017). Jones consented to a search of his phone and signed a written consent form. HSI transported Jones to its offices to conduct a videotaped interview and Jones signed a written Miranda waiver. In each case he allegedly persuaded an underage female fan to make sexually explicit videos of herself, according to his directions.[4][16][17] At a June 15 court hearing, Jones was released from federal custody to house arrest in his mother's custody after posting a $100,000 bond, but was ordered to abstain from using the Internet while he awaited trial.[18][19]

He pleaded guilty to a single count of "receipt of child pornography" on February 1, 2019,[20][21][22][23] and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on May 3, 2019.[24] After a court hearing on May 6, 2019, Jones was given permission to remain under house arrest until he reported to prison on June 28, 2019.[25] On May 14, 2019, a YouTube video was released by YouTuber deefizzy citing evidence implicating Kevin Lyman (founder of Vans Warped Tour), Leslie West (owner of The Rave in Wisconsin) and Bryan Stars in covering up Jones's behavior and actions.[26][27][28][29] As of 2022 he was imprisoned at FCI Loretto. His registry number is 52069-424. His scheduled release date is listed as December 31, 2027.[30]

Discography
  • Out of Character (2010)
  • From Under the Covers (2011)
  • Out of Character 2.0 (2012)
  • We'll Fall Together (2013)
  • Pitch Imperfect (2016)

See also

References
  1. Baer, Stephanie K. (3 May 2019). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Has Been Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Child Porn". BuzzFeed News. New York City: BuzzFeed. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  2. "Austin Jones - Social blade".
  3. Pritzker, JB (30 January 2020). "Sex Offender Detail". Illinois State Police. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  4. Seidel, Jon (13 June 2017). "YouTube star Austin Jones charged with child porn counts in Illinois". Chicago Sun-Times.
  5. "Suburban Musician Arrested on Child Pornography Charges for Allegedly Enticing Underage Girls to Produce Sexually Explicit Videos". U.S. Attorney's Office — Northern District of Illinois. Department of Justice. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  6. "YouTube U-turn over child abuse singer". 8 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  7. Alexander, Julia (7 February 2019). "YouTube removes channel after creator pleads guilty to coercing young fans into sending sexual content". The Verge. New York City: Vox Media. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  8. Holcombe, Madeline (4 May 2019). "YouTube star gets 10 years for persuading underage girls to send him sexually explicit videos". CNN. Atlanta, Georgia: Turner Broadcasting Systems. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  9. Castro, Danilo (13 June 2017). "Austin Jones Arrested: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. New York City: Heavy, Inc.
  10. Wilson-Taylor, James (14 March 2017). "WATCH: Twenty One Pilots Fan Records Acapella Version Of Every 'Blurryface' Track". PopBuzz.
  11. Selleck, Cole (October 2016). "WATCH: Dude Covers "Welcome To The Black Parade" With JUST His Voice". WRDA. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  12. Jones, Austin (1 June 2016). "YouTuber Austin Jones' cover of Bring Me The Horizon's 'Drown' is going viral". Alternative Press. Cleveland, Ohio: Alternative Press Magazine, Inc.
  13. Beelek, William (10 May 2015). "Austin Jones asking underage girls to twerk for him". PupFresh.
  14. Swenson, Kyle (4 February 2019). "Austin Jones had YouTube fame, 40 million page views, adoring fans and a shocking secret". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  15. Crane, Matt (18 May 2015). "Warped Tour YouTuber Austin Jones responds to accusations, apologizes". Alternative Press. Cleveland, Ohio.
  16. "United States of America v. Austin Jones Criminal Complaint (WARNING: Disturbing content)". US Department of Justice.
  17. Stutz, Colin (13 June 2017). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Arrested on 2 Counts of Child Pornography". Billboard. Los Angeles, California.
  18. "YouTube Star Austin Jones Released on Bail, Ordered to Stay Offline After Child Porn Charges". Billboard. Los Angeles, California. Associated Press. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  19. "Docket for United States v. Jones, 1:17-cr-00417 - CourtListener.com". CourtListener.
  20. Charles, Sam (1 February 2019). "YouTube star Austin Jones pleads guilty to child porn charge". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago, Illinois.
  21. Pelisek, Christine (1 February 2019). "Former YouTube Star Pleads Guilty to Coercing Underage Female Fans to Send Sexually Explicit Videos". People. New York City.
  22. "YouTube performer Austin Jones pleads guilty to child porn charge". ABC7 Chicago. New York City: ABC. 2 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  23. "Suburban Musician Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge for Enticing Underage Girls to Produce Sexually Explicit Videos". www.justice.gov. 1 February 2019.
  24. Crepeau, Megan (3 May 2019). "Austin Jones, singer who hit it big on YouTube, given 10 years in prison for child pornography conviction". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois.
  25. Crepeau, Megan (6 May 2019). "Judge allows YouTube star Austin Jones to remain on house arrest until he reports to prison June 28". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois.
  26. Fizzy, Damon (14 May 2019). "The FULL Truth About Austin Jones Situation (Finally Exposing His Defenders)". YouTube.
  27. Lange, Ariane (14 May 2019). "Teen Girls Tried To Stop Austin Jones In 2015". BuzzFeed News. New York City.
  28. "YouTuber Austin Jones Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography, Facing Prison Time". AltPress. 14 May 2019.
  29. Morrison, Arianna (14 May 2019). "What We Can Learn From Damon Fizzy". The Odyssey Online.
  30. "Find an inmate". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
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