Former Carbondale bar owner, teacher’s aide faces new charges in child sexual exploitation case

BENTON — A federal grand jury has returned a 10-count superseding indictment against a former southern Illinois bar owner and teacher’s aide in an expanding child sexual exploitation investigation now involving four minors.

Austin L. Knoob, 33, of Carbondale, has been in federal custody since Aug. 14, when he was arrested and charged by criminal complaint following an investigation that began in the FBI’s Boston office. A girl told federal investigators there that she’d met Knoob online several years ago at age 12, and that he’d encouraged her to send him sexual videos and to join a violent online group. Knoob is a former owner and manager of Levels nightclub in Carbondale and was employed as a teacher’s aide at Carbondale Community High School from August 2025 until his resignation on April 10.

The superseding indictment, filed Tuesday in the Southern District of Illinois, adds seven charges involving three additional minors. A three-count indictment returned in September involved the one minor who previously came forward with her mother. The superseding indictment includes the prior three charges, plus the seven additional ones identifying three new child victims.

Knoob now faces two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, two counts of receipt of child pornography, and one count each of solicitation of child pornography, interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and transportation of child pornography.

The new charges allege criminal conduct dating back to January 2024 and include accusations that Knoob traveled across state lines on or about July 28, just over two weeks before his arrest, for the purpose of producing child sexual abuse material involving a minor. The indictment identifies the Southern District of Ohio but does not specify where in Ohio the alleged conduct occurred.

While some of the allegations date to Knoob’s employment as a teacher’s aide at Carbondale High, Superintendent Daniel Booth said he has not been contacted by the FBI and has received no information indicating that any of the victims attended the school.

When Knoob appeared in federal court in August, Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Bloodworth told the court that FBI investigators had obtained Knoob’s cellphone and computer and might identify additional victims as the investigation unfolded.

While Knoob’s attorney argued that Knoob’s father, Greg Knoob, who now lives in Ohio, could provide effective supervision during his pretrial release, Bloodworth said the allegations suggest a “deep-seated, heavily rooted sexual deviancy” and asked that the court keep Knoob in custody while his case is pending. Magistrate Judge Reona Daly sided with the government, saying she’d heard numerous child sexual abuse cases, but “I have never seen anything like this.”

Knoob pleaded not guilty to all prior charges. His arraignment on the superseding indictment is scheduled for Nov. 12.

Alleged ties to online extremist groups

According to an FBI affidavit filed Aug. 14, the girl told investigators she was 12 when she began communicating with Knoob, whom she knew online as “Frank.” She said he sent her money and gifts while repeatedly encouraging her to produce sexually explicit images and videos of herself.

The girl also told investigators that Knoob introduced her to online groups where members shared child sexual abuse material and encouraged her to record herself engaging in self-harm. She described another group she was added to as a “cult,” whose members shared videos of people attempting suicide, abusing animals, drinking acid, selling human skin and engaging in other violent acts. The affidavit does not allege Knoob introduced her to that second group or make clear how she was introduced to it.

The girl told the FBI that members also 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 the FBI has repeatedly 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.

Speaking generally, the spokesperson said in a written response to questions that the FBI has seen an increase in cases involving violent online networks across the state and country. Among them are groups commonly known as “764” and their offshoots, whose members target minors and other vulnerable people online, coercing them into producing sexually explicit videos, harming themselves or animals or engaging in other extreme acts of violence or societal disruption. The FBI says it investigates cases as potential acts of terrorism when participants engage in suspected criminal activity to further their sociopolitical goals.

“Not all members participate in networks that conduct sadistic online exploitation for the same reason. Motivations vary from person to person, from group to group, and some members may be engaging in criminal activity for sexual gratification, social status or a sense of belonging, or for a mix of other reasons that may not be ideologically motivated,” the FBI told Southern Illinois Source. “In those cases, we will investigate the crimes as a criminal matter, not as terrorism. For that reason, each case is evaluated individually, on a case-by-case basis.”

Regardless of motivation, the FBI spokesperson called it a “top priority” to “identify and stop those who target the most vulnerable members of our society, our children and other at-risk individuals.”

In a statement shortly after Knoob’s arrest, U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft said the allegations in the case against Knoob painted a “chilling picture of how online predators create real-word danger across state lines.” Also in a statement, Ryan Presley, FBI Springfield’s Special Agent in Charge, said that predators are “increasingly turning to digital spaces to harm children.”

“But the FBI is equally committed to using every tool and resource available to uncover that conduct,” he added. “The allegations in this case are deeply troubling, and we will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to protect children and bring justice to anyone who seeks to exploit them.”

Carbondale High updates protocols

In a letter to the school community following Knoob’s arrest, Booth said the district had received no complaints about Knoob’s conduct during his eight months as a teacher’s aide and had no information indicating students were involved in the investigation.

Booth said Knoob worked under the supervision of certified staff and was never solely responsible for a classroom. The district encouraged anyone with information to contact school officials or law enforcement and said it had implemented additional staff training and protocols concerning professional boundaries and reporting inappropriate conduct.

Booth said Thursday that he has received no new information since Knoob’s arrest suggesting any of the alleged victims attended Carbondale High.

Knoob’s father, Greg Knoob, was the longtime operator of several popular Carbondale bars, including Levels, Callahan’s Irish Pub and Stix Bar & Billiards. Austin Knoob assumed ownership of Levels in 2015 amid years of disputes between the family and city officials over underage drinking and fights at their establishments.

Knoob earned a bachelor’s degree in history education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in May 2025, according to the resume, which Southern Illinois Source obtained from Carbondale High in a Freedom of Information Act request. According to Illinois State Board of Education records, he obtained a license to teach social science and history in grades 9 through 12 in July 2025 and started his job at Carbondale High the next month. He resigned voluntarily and had told staff he’d gotten a new job in a different field, Booth said.

Justin Merriman, president of the Carbondale Community High School Education Association, emphasized that Knoob was employed as a teacher’s aide during his brief stint at Carbondale High, not a teacher, and was neither a member of nor represented by the union. Merriman said the distinction was important to ensure the community understood Knoob’s former role at the school.

This story was produced by Southern Illinois Source, the Illinois Press Foundation’s nonprofit news collaborative serving the bottom third of the state in partnership with the Southern Illinois University Charlotte Thompson Suhler School of Journalism and Advertising.

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.