{"id":644402,"date":"2019-05-04T09:30:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"
\"Austin<\/div>

A YouTube musical celebrity was sentenced on F"},"modified":"2019-05-04T09:30:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T09:30:53","slug":"youtube-celebrity-gets-10-year-jail-term-for-child-porn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/05\/04\/youtube-celebrity-gets-10-year-jail-term-for-child-porn\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube celebrity gets 10-year jail term for child porn"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\"Austin<\/div>\n

A YouTube musical celebrity was sentenced on Friday in a Chicago courtroom to 10 years in prison for enticing girls as young as 14 to produce sexually explicit videos of themselves.<\/p>\n

Austin Jones, who posted online videos of himself performing songs for a fan base of primarily teenage girls, was arrested in 2017 and pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of child pornography.<\/p>\n

As part of his plea, Jones admitted to a total of six identified victims and approximately 30 attempts to persuade other girls to send him child pornography, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

A federal judge on Friday imposed a 10-year prison sentence on the 26-year-old, who could have gotten as little as five years or as many as 20, according to sentencing guidelines.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors, pointing to text messages, alleged in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court that Jones targeted young girls under the pretence of \u201cauditions\u201d for modeling and other opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to help you! I know you\u2019re trying your hardest to prove you\u2019re my biggest fan. And I don\u2019t want to have to find someone else,\u201d Jones told one 14-year-old victim via Facebook messenger, according to the court filing.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Facebook tipped off the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about Jones\u2019s conversations with 14- and 15-year-old girls using the social media service\u2019s private messaging feature.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019s defense lawyers had asked that he be sentenced to five years on the basis of mitigating circumstances having to do with the man\u2019s childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin was a victim of sexual and emotional abuse by his father from age six until age 10. He was young, helpless and scared,\u201d his attorney\u2019s wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n

They claimed Jones suffered from severe depression and other mental health problems.<\/p>\n

\n
Get more stories like this on Twitter<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n