BACLIFF, Texas – When KPRC 2’s cameras went to 35-year-old Steven Jones’ home Thursday afternoon, we caught a glimpse of Jones.
But that is more than prosecutors said some underage girls ever saw of him.
Investigators said Jones claimed, in multiple Facebook accounts, that he was Maddie Ziegler from the reality show “Dance Moms.”
Investigators said he had contact with 12 young girls ranging in age from 10 to 16 in two states.
"Posing as her, and then messaging underage girls, befriending them, developing intimate relationships. And in at least one case requesting a nude photograph be sent," prosecutor Adam Poole said.
KPRC spoke with Jones’ mother, Debbie Jones, from the front door of the camper she shares with her son in Bacliff.
Webster Police investigators searched the home early Tuesday morning.
Jones claimed her son had not been arrested or charged.
"He swears that there's no bad pictures on there,” said Debbie. "Mentally he is somewhere between 8 and 15 years old. Talking to girls, he didn't see anything wrong with that."
Prosecutors said their office accepted a charge of attempted sexual performance of a child which they defined as someone trying to get a child to participate in producing pornography.
Prosecutors said he was taken to the hospital for a medical issue and would be formally booked into jail later.
'I ain't a happy camper with him. You know. I've even went to the point to talk to my granddaughter and my grandson to see if anything inappropriate has happened," Jones’ neighbor, James Hooper, said.
Ziegler is also known for dancing in the Sia music video, "Chandelier."