Was James Charles Ever Arrested for the "Grooming" Allegations He's Facing?

Being a popular influencer comes with its own slew of challenges that have a lot to do with the nature of the online celebrity business. You can blow up and become a huge star in a matter of months, but you can just as quickly lose whatever celebrity status you had, too. 

Sometimes, it has to do with fickle fans who are looking for any excuse to drag someone through the mud. Then there are folks who have legitimate concerns, like people who want to know if James Charles got arrested for what he did on Snapchat with a fan.

On February 26, 2021, Charles was accused of "grooming" a 16-year-old on Snapchat. The teen alleges that Charles sent him pictures and photos of a sexual nature on the popular messaging application, but James responded that this simply is not the case.

Charles penned a response on his notes application, then took a screenshot and uploaded it to Twitter addressing the entire situation. He wrote that while the two of them did indeed exchange messages, the beauty blogger had no idea that the youngster was 16. "There's a video going around about me on TikTok and Twitter of a guy calling me a groomer and I want to address it right away," Charles said.

"The accusation that I have groomed this person is completely false. Last week, I came across someone on my Instagram explore page, saw he followed me, and added him on Snapchat. The next morning, I woke up to several snaps from this person being excited I added him back, saying he loved me, and also lewd photos of himself in the shower. I asked how old he was right away, and he told me he was 18, so I started flirting back."

Charles continued with his side of the story: "In the excitement of meeting someone I thought could be potentially great, I didn't ask for a copy of his ID or passport. It's now clear, based on the video that he uploaded, he was taking photos of me with another device and had an ulterior motive from the beginning."

Charles then went on to say that during the course of their conversation, there were several details that led him to believe the young man was younger than 18. When he asked him his age again, Charles' new Snapchat friend admitted that he was 16. "I told him I was really uncomfortable and apologized for flirting, but he insisted on continuing talking, saying it could be our little secret, he's a fan of mine and would never tell anyone," James said.

"I told him I wasn't OK with this, he started getting upset, and at this point, I unfriended him. We haven't spoken since. I'm not victim-blaming him or victimizing myself either, simply sharing what happened, and what happened was not OK. After false allegations like this in the past, I would never knowingly engage with anyone underage and put my life on the line for a few Snapchats. Because of situations like this, instead of taking someone's word for it, I now will ask to see the ID or passport of every guy I have a conversation with," Charles concluded.

The "grooming" claims against James went viral on TikTok, but the clip has since been deleted. There hasn't been any explanation as to why it was removed.

Even though James admitted that he was indeed in conversation with a minor and exchanged photos, if his sequence of events is correct, it could be proven that he was "duped" into exchanging lewds with the young man, especially if authorities could gain access to the exchange that they had.