SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - Singer and social media sensation Austin Jones was in federal custody Tuesday after he was charged with using Facebook and iMessage to ask teenage girls to make sexually explicit videos and send them to him.
Jones, 24, of west suburban Bloomingdale, was charged with two counts of production of child pornography and is expected to have a bond hearing Wednesday. Federal prosecutors are arguing he’s a risk to the community and said there’s a danger he’ll flee, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Jones was arrested Monday night at O’Hare Airport and appeared timid as he was led into a federal courtroom Tuesday afternoon in an orange jumpsuit.
He faces a minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted. A magistrate judge told him repeatedly that he was going to have to pay for his own defense lawyer.
The feds said he pressured a girl to send him sexually explicit videos to “prove” she was his biggest fan. The criminal complaint describes Jones urging a girl to make videos in which she repeatedly said, “only 14.”