Former Carbondale bar owner, teacher’s aide faces new charges in child
sexual exploitation case
[November 06, 2026]
By Molly Parker and SI Source
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.
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A federal grand jury returned a 10-count superseding indictment
against 33-year-old Austin Knoob of Carbondale this week; his
arraignment on the superseding indictment is scheduled for Nov. 12
at the federal courthouse in Benton. (File photo by Jackson
Brandhorst, for Southern Illinois Source)
“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.
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