Jerry Harris, who became a beloved public figure following his appearance on Netflix’s Cheer, pleaded guilty on Thursday in a federal child-pornography case, The New York Times reports. Harris was first arrested in September 2020, days after twin 14-year-old boys accused him of sending sexually explicit messages to them, requesting nude photos, and soliciting sex from them.
In a remote hearing on Thursday, Harris pleaded guilty to two of the seven federal charges related to asking for child sexual abuse imagery and illegal sexual conduct with a minor brought against him in Chicago. Harris told Judge Manish S. Shah that he had reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty to charges that he persuaded a 17-year-old to send him sexually explicit imagery for payment and that he traveled to Florida “for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct” with a 15-year-old. Per the agreement, prosecutors would ask that all other remaining charges be dropped, Judge Shah said.
The 22-year-old had originally pleaded not guilty in December 2020 and denied all charges through a spokesperson. Harris has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since his arrest. In a statement, per the Times, Harris’s lawyers said their client wanted to “take responsibility for his actions and publicly convey his remorse for the harm he has caused the victims.”
His lawyers also shared that Harris himself had been “exploited, manipulated, and sexually abused as a child within the Cheer Community in a way that perversely made him believe that this sexual conduct was somehow normal when it was not.” The statement continued, “There being no safe harbor to discuss his exploitation, Jerry instead masked his trauma and put on the bright face and infectious smile that the world came to know. As we now know, Jerry became an offender himself as an older teenager.”
The charges against Harris are addressed in season two of Cheer, most prominently in episode five, which is titled “Jerry.” The episode features interviews with Charlie and Sam, the teenage brothers who accused Harris of sexual misconduct, and their mother, Kristen.
Charlie claims that Harris contacted him through a private Instagram account and inquired about his age. After Charlie said he was 13, Harris allegedly asked for explicit photos. Charlie claims he later met him in person at the 2019 American Cheerleaders Association championship. The pair went to the bathroom where, Charlie alleges, Harris harassed him, and repeatedly asked him to have sex, which Charlie repeatedly refused. Sam alleges that he remembered seeing his brother return from the bathroom looking “extremely distressed.” Unbeknownst to Charlie, Harris had allegedly begun messaging Sam privately as well.
“In an effort to put a stop to a serial predator and avert harm to other children, my sons took the brave step of speaking publicly about the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Jerry Harris,” Kristen said in a statement on Thursday, per NBC News. “I will continue my mission to hold Jerry Harris and his enablers fully accountable both in the courts of law and the court of public opinion.”
Monica Aldama, who coached Harris at Navarro College, said in the episode that he had written her a letter from prison, which said in part that Harris “hopes to one day be a motivational speaker.” She added, “There was not one negative thing in this letter,” and “I was really caught off guard at the hope he had for the future. It’s sad.”
According to the Times, Harris will be sentenced on June 28 and sentencing guidelines may recommend 50 years in prison, although Judge Shah may recommend a different sentence.
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