Carbondale educator accused of exploiting young girl in violent online ‘cult’

A Carbondale Community High School teacher’s aide allegedly cultivated an online relationship with an underage girl, sending her money and gifts while repeatedly encouraging her to make sexually explicit videos of herself, according to a federal criminal complaint and an FBI affidavit.

Austin Knoob, 32, of Carbondale, who is also the former owner of Levels nightclub, faces two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. He pleaded not guilty last week in federal court in Benton. Judge Reona Daly on Monday denied Knoob’s pretrial release; he will remain in custody while his case is pending.

The case originated in Boston and quickly led to Knoob’s arrest after he admitted to the FBI that he had been talking to the girl, who said she was 12 when they first met online, according to a sworn affidavit filed last week by FBI Special Agent Samuel J. Sukovich, who investigates violent crimes against children from the FBI’s Marion office.

Later, Knoob allegedly recruited the girl into an online group whose members encouraged her to share videos of her harming herself. She was then added to an even more extreme group she described as a “cult” that included members sharing videos of people committing suicide and other bizarre acts, the affidavit alleged.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Bloodworth asked the court to keep Knoob in custody, saying the allegations against Knoob suggest a “deep-seated, heavily rooted sexual deviancy.” While the government’s charges involve one minor victim, Bloodworth said there may be additional victims identified as the investigation unfolds.

Knoob’s attorney said Knoob did not have a prior record, noting he would use an ankle monitor and said his dad had offered to ensure he had no internet access. But Judge Daly sided with the government in keeping him in custody, saying that despite hearing numerous child pornography cases, “I have never seen anything like this.”

The girl was interviewed July 28, and the FBI’s Boston office referred the investigation to agents in Marion on Aug. 6. Six days later, agents interviewed Knoob at his home. Knoob, who the girl knew as “Frank” online, was taken into custody two days later.

One count stems from an Aug. 12-13, 2025, exchange in which “Frank” asked the girl whether she had any new material. After she said she did, he wrote, “I definitely wanna see lol.” She then sent him a link to a video of herself masturbating, according to the affidavit.

The second stems from an April 9 exchange in which “Frank” asked her to “spoil me with any new things she has taken.” After she said she had “a lot,” he told her, “My last day of work is tomorrow,” then wrote, “I need a lot.” The girl sent six images and nine videos of herself, most of which the FBI identified as child pornography under federal law.

“I love you,” he wrote after receiving them. He then suggested he might visit her soon and the two could “Make our own videos.”

FBI: Girl reported Knoob said he bragged about other victims

Carbondale Community High School Superintendent Daniel Booth said Knoob was hired as an aide in August 2025 and resigned effective April 10, one day after the text exchange underlying the second federal charge. The period documented in the affidavit largely overlaps with his employment at the high school. The girl told investigators that Knoob sometimes solicited sexual content from her while he was bored at work.

Booth said he was unaware of the allegations against Knoob or his arrest last week until contacted by Capitol News Illinois on Sunday. He said Knoob submitted his two week’s notice in a letter dated March 30 and told co-workers that he was leaving to pursue a different job. Booth stressed that no one from the FBI or any other federal authorities have contacted him, and that he has no information to believe any Carbondale High students are involved. But he encouraged anyone with information to reach out to the district or federal authorities.

The girl told the FBI that before Knoob became a teacher’s aide at Carbondale High, he had told her he previously worked as a teacher in another district but was fired. The resume he provided Carbondale High listed substitute teaching in the neighboring Murphysboro school district as his only prior educational experience, according to records obtained by CNI. The Murphysboro superintendent told CNI that Knoob worked only a handful of days in that district three years ago.

She said he claimed to have had sex with multiple students, as well as his girlfriend’s 15- or 16-year-old cousin, according to the affidavit. It does not say whether investigators independently verified those claims.

The affidavit cites Carbondale Community High School Board minutes showed Knoob was employed as a teacher’s aide for the 2025-26 school year but provides no other information about his employment history.

Illinois State Board of Education records show Knoob was licensed as a substitute teacher in November 2023. In July 2025, he obtained a license to teach social science and history in grades 9-12. His licenses were registered in two regional offices of education spanning nine Southern Illinois counties: Alexander, Franklin, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pulaski, Union and Williamson.

In a statement to CNI, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Springfield Field Office described the case as an “active investigation” and “per Department of Justice policy, we are unable to comment on active investigations.”

However, the FBI said it will alert any relevant public or private entities if suspected abuse in those locations occurred; these notifications would also include the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, if warranted.

The girl told investigators she began talking with Knoob on Snapchat roughly four years ago, when she was about 12.

Knoob told investigators he believed the girl was about 15 when they met online and acknowledged knowing she was underage. He said he had never met the girl in person.

Knoob acknowledged asking her for sexually explicit images and videos and said he “might have” coached her in making them.

Knoob also told investigators they would find child sexual abuse material on his computer and admitted searching for it online and participating in groups where it was shared, according to the affidavit.

He also told investigators he was sexually attracted to underage children though would not want to “go below 15,” according to the affidavit.

The girl told investigators that Knoob’s Snapchat accounts were repeatedly banned and that he sent her child sexual abuse material involving other children, some she estimated were as young as 4. She said he wanted her to recreate what she saw, according to the affidavit.

She also told investigators he wanted to get her a dog because he wanted her to do “things” with it.

Girl pushed into violent, online extremist groups

She said Knoob later added her to a group on the social media channel Telegram, where child sexual abuse material was shared. She also told investigators Knoob knew she was harming herself and added her to another Telegram group whose members wanted photos and videos of her hurting herself.

After she sent the self-harm group a video, members asked her to recruit female friends to make similar videos.

When she refused, she said, members threatened to show her family images and videos that Knoob had sent to the group. Members posted her home address and the full names of her mother, father and grandmother and threatened to hurt her family unless she continued sending content, she told the FBI, according to the affidavit.

She said she was later added to another, more extreme online group she described as a “cult.” She said members posted images and videos showing writing in blood on walls, people killing animals and live viewings of people committing suicide. She also described content showing people selling their skin and drinking acid.

The affidavit does not say whether Knoob allegedly added her to this second group.

‘764’ a growing online concern

The girl told the FBI that members pressured her to cut herself and wanted her to carve the group’s identifying numbers into her stomach. She remembered those numbers as “Seven something Four.” When she refused, she said, members threatened her, and she eventually sent the group videos of herself cutting her thigh.

The affidavit does not identify the group. But in recent months, the FBI has warned parents, guardians and caregivers about a group known as 764, which it has described as a loose network of violent online groups that exploit children and other vulnerable people.

In February, the FBI’s Boston office issued a warning to parents about what it described as a “sharp increase” in activity involving 764 and similar violent online networks. The bureau said members connect with children online by first establishing a trusting or romantic relationship.

Then, they coerce them into producing child sexual abuse content or engaging in animal cruelty, self-harm and other violence.

At the time, the FBI said it was investigating more than 350 people nationwide tied to 764 and similar networks. All 56 FBI field offices were involved, and federal prosecutors have already brought several major 764 cases. Last week, Kyle Spitze, of Tennessee, received 77 years in prison, the longest federal prison sentence ever imposed on a nihilistic violent extremist, according to the Justice Department.

Neither the criminal complaint nor the supporting affidavit alleges that Knoob was part of 764.

But months after the Boston office issued that warning, the same field office became involved in the investigation that led agents to Knoob.

During her July 28 interview, the girl gave investigators a phone number she said “Frank” used to communicate with her. Agents found an iMessage thread with that number on her laptop containing about 720 messages exchanged between July 30, 2025, and May 21, 2026.

Verizon records obtained Aug. 7 identified the subscriber as Knoob. An FBI agent drove by Knoob’s Carbondale home that day and saw two vehicles registered to him. Agents interviewed Knoob there five days later.

Knoob previously owned Levels, along with his father, Greg Knoob, who originally operated it as Carboz. Greg Knoob also ran other popular college bars, including Callahan’s Irish Pub and Stix Bar & Billiards. The family was entangled in years of disputes with the city over underage drinking and fights at their establishments, especially at Levels, which Austin Knoob assumed ownership of in 2015. He ran it until 2020, when the city revoked his liquor license. Levels and Stix were sold to new owners this year.

The FBI encouraged anyone with information to report concerning Knoob to contact the bureau at 1-800-CALL-FBI and make a report, referring to this specific incident.

 Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

The Saluki Local Reporting Lab is a special project of the SIU School of Journalism and Advertising and is designed to give students from diverse backgrounds practical reporting experience while providing news coverage to underserved communities.