Ryan Adams at Beacon Theatre
photo by Sachyn Mital

F.B.I. to open inquiry into Ryan Adams' communication with underage girl

Ryan Adams was accused of sexual misconduct and abuse by several women in a New York Times report on Wednesday (2/13). One of them, identified by the pseudonym “Ava,” told the Times she was 14 when she began talking to Adams, and exchanged over 3000 text messages with him over the course of nine months, while she was 15 and 16 years old. Some of them were sexually explicit, she said, and their exchanges also allegedly included phone sex and nudity over Skype video calls. The New York Times now reports that according to a law enforcement source, the F.B.I. is opening an inquiry into whether Adams committed a crime during his communications with Ava.

More from the New York Times:

In response to The Times’s article, F.B.I. agents in the bureau’s New York office on Thursday took the first steps to open a criminal investigation, according to the official, who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The agents, from the Crimes Against Children Squad, will seek to interview the woman, the official said, and try to obtain the text messages and any other evidence she may have in her possession. If they find her account credible, they will take other investigative steps, which could include subpoenaing both her cellphone records and those of Adams from their service providers, the official said.

Adams has denied the allegations, both through his lawyer and in a series of tweets where he called them “upsettingly inaccurate.”