Bloomingdale singer with teen following faces child porn charges

CHICAGO, Illinois -- A suburban Chicago singer with hundreds of thousands of teenage followers online faces child pornography charges for allegedly instructing two young female fans to send him sexually explicit videos of themselves.

Twenty-four-year-old Austin Jones of Bloomingdale appeared Tuesday in a Chicago federal court wearing orange jail clothes and ankle chains. He said he understood the charges. Each of the two counts of production of child pornography carries a minimum 15-year prison sentence.

According to the complaint, Jones chatted with one victim in August 2016 and with the other victim last month. The victim from last August stated in a Facebook chat with Jones that she was his biggest fan, the complaint states. Jones repeatedly told her that she was "lucky" to have his attention, and that she needed to "prove" that she was his biggest fan by producing the sexually explicit videos and sending them to him, the complaint states. The fans were around 14 years old.

Jones' music videos have garnered millions of YouTube views. He's released original music and covered the work of Justin Bieber and others.

He was arrested Monday at O'Hare International Airport. A bond hearing was set for Wednesday. Prosecutors say they'll oppose his release.

Jones didn't have his own lawyer Tuesday. He'll enter a plea later.

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