(Image source from: ChicagoInformer)

Former YouTube star Autin Jones, who garnered large teenage fan following, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on a child pornography charge after pleading guilty last year for forcing fans to send him nudes.

Austin had forced six minor girls, as young as 14, to send him sexually explicit pictures and videos.

The 26-year-old from Bloomingdale in Illinois had also coerced girls on about 30 other occasions to send him sexual videos and pictures even after knowing they were underage. He told them to send videos and photos of their body parts using Facebook's messaging feature. He had told one underage girl to prove she was his 'biggest fan' by sending him sexual videos.

Jones became famous after his A cappella covers of pop songs.

The inappropriate behavior of Jones with fans first surfaced online in 2015 after several girls published personal accounts about Jones’ inappropriate behavior towards them. He was in 2017 arrested and charged with production of child pornography.

Many girls said he asked for their twerking videos making them feel uncomfortable. Following the allegations, 9,000 people signed a petition against him which resulted in him being taken off from the lineup at the Warped Tour.

According to prosecutors, he also told some of his victims that the videos were for a modeling opportunity that could help them add followers on social media.

According to Jones' plea agreement, he received sexually explicit videos from several girls in 2016 and 2017. Following his guilty plea, YouTube terminated his account.

Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge James Gibbons said in a statement, "Today's sentencing of Austin Jones represents a major step towards justice for the young victims whom he manipulated and exploited."

-Sangam Sowmya