Austin Jones (musician)

Austin Jefferson Jones (born December 12, 1992)[2] is a former American musician 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.[3]

Austin Jones
Born
Austin Jefferson Jones

(1992-12-12) December 12, 1992
Chicago, Illinois U.S.
OccupationMusician
Years active2007–2017
Home townBloomingdale, Illinois, U.S.
Criminal charge(s)Receipt 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
GenreMusic (cover music, rock music, pop punk)
Subscribers(547,000+ before channel was terminated)
Total views(33.2 million+ before channel was terminated)
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.[2][3][4] On February 6, 2019, his YouTube channel was terminated.[5][6] On May 3, 2019, Jones was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography.[7]

Career

Jones began releasing music in 2007. 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.[8] Jones also made videos of a cappella song covers, 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.[9][10][11]

On May 10, 2015, the music website PupFresh reported that Austin Jones had contacted multiple underage female fans online, each time persuading the girl to twerk on video for him, giving her directions how to perform the act while being recorded.[12] A Change.org petition started by an anonymous 15-year-old girl to revoke his planned participation in the upcoming The 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", where 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.[13][14]

On June 12, 2017, 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). In each case he persuaded an underage female fan to make sexually explicit videos of herself, according to his directions.[3][15][16] 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.[17][18] He pleaded guilty to a single count of "receipt of child pornography" on February 1, 2019,[19][20][21][22] and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on May 3, 2019.[23] 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.[24] On May 14, 2019, a YouTube video was released 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' behavior and actions.[25][26][27][28]

As of June 12, 2020, he is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto, a low-security federal prison in Allegheny Township, Cambria County, near Loretto, Pennsylvania. He is scheduled to be released on December 31, 2027.[29]

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. (May 3, 2019). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Has Been Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Child Porn". BuzzFeed News. New York City: Buzzfeed. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
  2. Sokmenseur, Harriet (June 15, 2017). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Allegedly Urged 14-Year-Old Fans to Send Him Sexual Videos". People. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  3. Seidel, Jon (June 13, 2017). "YouTube star Austin Jones charged with child porn counts in Illinois". Chicago Sun-Times.
  4. "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. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  5. "YouTube U-turn over child abuse singer". 8 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  6. Alexander, Julia (February 7, 2019). "YouTube removes channel after creator pleads guilty to coercing young fans into sending sexual content". The Verge. New York City: Vox Media. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  7. Holcombe, Madeline (May 4, 2019). "YouTube star gets 10 years for persuading underage girls to send him sexually explicit videos". CNN. Atlanta, Georgia: Turner Broadcasting Systems.
  8. Castro, Danilo (June 13, 2017). "Austin Jones Arrested: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. New York City: Heavy, Inc.
  9. Wilson-Taylor, James (March 14, 2017). "WATCH: Twenty One Pilots Fan Records Acapella Version Of Every 'Blurryface' Track". PopBuzz.
  10. Selleck, Cole (October 2016). "WATCH: Dude Covers "Welcome To The Black Parade" With JUST His Voice". WRDA.
  11. Jones, Austin (June 1, 2016). "YouTuber Austin Jones' cover of Bring Me The Horizon's 'Drown' is going viral". Alternative Press. Cleveland, Ohio: Alternative Press Magazine, Inc.
  12. Beelek, William (May 10, 2015). "Austin Jones asking underage girls to twerk for him". PupFresh.
  13. Swenson, Kyle (February 4, 2019). "Austin Jones had YouTube fame, 40 million page views, adoring fans and a shocking secret". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California: Hearst Publications.
  14. Crane, Matt (May 18, 2015). "Warped Tour YouTuber Austin Jones responds to accusations, apologizes". Alternative Press. Cleveland, Ohio: Alternative Press Magazine, Inc.
  15. "Austin Jones Child Porn Complaint WARNING: Disturbing content - Ip Address - Internet Service Provider". Scribd.
  16. Stutz, Colin (June 13, 2017). "YouTube Star Austin Jones Arrested on 2 Counts of Child Pornography". Billboard. Los Angeles, California: Valence Media.
  17. "YouTube Star Austin Jones Released on Bail, Ordered to Stay Offline After Child Porn Charges". Billboard. Los Angeles, California: Valence Media. Associated Press. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  18. "Docket for United States v. Jones, 1:17-cr-00417 - CourtListener.com". CourtListener.
  19. Charles, Sam (February 1, 2019). "YouTube star Austin Jones pleads guilty to child porn charge". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago, Illinois: Sun-Times Media Group.
  20. Pelisek, Christine (February 1, 2019). "Former YouTube Star Pleads Guilty to Coercing Underage Female Fans to Send Sexually Explicit Videos". People. New York City: Meredith Corporation.
  21. "YouTube performer Austin Jones pleads guilty to child porn charge". ABC7 Chicago. New York City: ABC. February 2, 2019. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  22. "Suburban Musician Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge for Enticing Underage Girls to Produce Sexually Explicit Videos". www.justice.gov. February 1, 2019.
  23. Crepeau, Megan (May 3, 2019). "Austin Jones, singer who hit it big on YouTube, given 10 years in prison for child pornography conviction". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois: Tribune Publishing.
  24. Crepeau, Megan (May 6, 2019). "Judge allows YouTube star Austin Jones to remain on house arrest until he reports to prison June 28". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois: Tribune Publishing.
  25. Fizzy, Damon (May 14, 2019). "The FULL Truth About Austin Jones Situation (Finally Exposing His Defenders)". YouTube.
  26. Lange, Ariane (May 14, 2019). "Teen Girls Tried To Stop Austin Jones In 2015". BuzzFeed News. New York City: Buzzfeed.
  27. "YOUTUBER AUSTIN JONES PLEADS GUILTY TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, FACING PRISON TIME". AltPress. May 14, 2019.
  28. Morrison, Arianna (May 14, 2019). "What We Can Learn From Damon Fizzy". The Odyssey Online.
  29. "Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto". Wikipedia. February 5, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
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