Popular former YouTuber Austin Jones faces a 10-year prison sentence for soliciting explicit videos from underage fans. A judge gave the ruling after he pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of getting explicit content from children.

Jones will spend the next 10 years of his life in an American prison. The Special Agent in charge of the case from America’s Homeland Security said the sentencing was a step towards getting justice for the victims.

In February 2019, YouTube removed Jones channel after he pleaded guilty to the charge. He started out as a musician in 2007 and quickly became popular on YouTube doing covers of popular songs. Reports revealed in 2015 showed that he had contacted underage girls to send him videos.

Jones gave a public confession on his YouTube channel afterwards, stating his regret and embarrassment. He, however, denied that he asked young girls to send him explicit videos.

Austin Jones was arrested in 2017 for coaxing underage girls to send him explicit videos. He admitted to using iMessage and Facebook to chat with teenage girls. Jones also encouraged them to send him pornographic videos. He then pled guilty to the charges he faced. YouTube, who demonetised his account at the time, later removed it altogether on its own discretion. The kept it at the time on the argument that it did not violate any terms of service.

The 26-year-old from Illinois, USA had 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and 225,000 followers on Twitter.