Ex-Owl City Member Daniel Jorgensen Pleads Guilty to Lewd Behavior After Exposing Himself To Underage Girl

Daniel Jorgensen, former member of electronica band Owl City, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree lewdness with a child before Superior Court Judge Michael J. Blee on July 10.

The 32-year-old musician admitted to exposing himself to an underage girl who was still 13-years-old at the time of the incident, which took place in Atlantic City in August 2013. According to Pioneer Press, Jorgensen was initially charged in 2015 with attempting to lure the child and engage in sexual activity with her at a beach in Atlantic City.

Press of Atlantic City reported that Jorgensen communicated with the victim through the internet and phone and persuaded her to come to Atlantic City, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner said. On Aug. 29, 2013, the date of the incident, Jorgensen was performing with Owl City at the House of Blues at the former Showboat Casino.

After he “committed criminal sexual contact” with the girl at the beach he subsequently tried to convince her to visit him at the hotel he was staying at.

During the sentencing, the victim told the court how the offense had significantly prevented her from living a normal teenage life.

Blee sentenced Jorgensen to serve two years of probation in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was also ordered to submit his fingerprints and a DNA sample.

In arriving at the ruling, the court acknowledged the significant need to deter the defendant’s behavior while also recognizing that Jorgensen had no previous criminal history.

Jorgensen, who plays bass, guitar and vibraphone, was first accused of sexual harassment in 2013 after a fan posted about having a flirtatious encounter with him in Atlantic City. In the same post, the fan warned others to “stay away from him” and shared her traumatic experience with the musician.

After the allegations came out in 2013, Jorgensen was dropped from Owl City, The Daily Mail reported. At that time, Owl City’s manager, Steve Bursky, said the move was “necessary and appropriate given the allegations that have surfaced.”

The identity of the victim was not revealed and it remains unclear if she is the same person that posted the story online.

Owl City is a band founded by singer and songwriter Adam Young. Jorgensen was recruited during the early days of the band. Before he was terminated from Owl City on December 2013, he had been touring with the band since 2009, when the group’s first major label album Ocean Eyes was released. Owl City is best known for their songs “Fireflies” and “Vanilla Twilight.”

Meanwhile, Young recently cleared up the long-standing confusion over his hit song “Fireflies.” The catchy song, which peaked at Billboard‘s Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks, had a line that baffled fans for years.

In the disputed portion of the lyrics, Young sings, “‘Cause I’d get a thousand hugs/ From 10,000 lightning bugs/ As they tried to teach me how to dance.” Vulture reporter Dee Locket contested this, saying mathematically speaking he would be getting if 10,000 lightning bugs were hugging, that would give him 10,000 hugs not just “a thousand.” To this, Young gave a very detailed response.

“As the lyrics of the song clearly state, the average layperson would not believe their eyes if 10,000,000 fireflies were to illuminate planet Earth, nor would the average person conclude by natural instinct that 10,000 lightning bugs, acting as a collective group, are capable of embracing a human being 1,000 times without difficulty. By the same token, a gathering of lightning bugs in such vast numbers form a sort of ‘swarm,’ and a swarm can collectively surround a human and deliver a ‘hug’ that a single firefly, acting according to the dictates of his own conscience, simply cannot. Consequently, I was embraced 1,000 times by 10,000 luminescent insects.”

[Featured Image by Carinthia Music]