Greg Chism, the single father of two who was reportedly being investigated for disturbing videos on his now-deleted Toy Freaks YouTube channel, will not be charged with a crime, according to authorities.
On Thursday, Missouri authorities told BuzzFeed that Chism will not be facing any criminal charges, after police in Illinois claimed an investigation was “ongoing” last month. (Chism moved to Missouri from Illinois this year.)
A spokesperson for the St. Charles County Police Department told BuzzFeed: “In a cooperative effort with the Granite City, Illinois, Police Department, and after consulting with prosecutors in Illinois, Missouri, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, it has been determined there were no criminal violations.”
Chism’s channel—which featured videos of him and his two daughters acting like babies, as well as engaging in more distressing behavior that some considered abuse—was shut down in November, as part of a bigger crackdown on disturbing content aimed at kids. It had more than 8 million subscribers. A second deleted channel, Freak Family Vlogs, had more than 4 million.
Granite City’s police chief told BuzzFeed last month that while the videos are alarming, “finding the proper criminal aspect to being a bad parent at times is challenging.”
YouTube recently claimed it’s enlisting 10,000 moderators to help flag extremist and abusive content.
H/T BuzzFeed
