Jerry Harris, former star of Netflix’s Cheer, has been sentenced to 12 years to prison for soliciting sex and obscene photos and videos from minors.
Harris was arrested in September of ’20 for producing child pornography. In February of this year he pleaded guilty to two of the seven counts against him.
On Wednesday a federal court in Chicago sentenced Harris to 12 years. Prosecutors at the Chicago hearing called for a lengthy sentence due to Harris using his celebrity status to lure his young victims.
Harris’ attorneys wanted a shorter sentence, arguing that Harris’ views of sex were warped by abuse he’d suffered as a child. The judge also told Harris that the sentence was an
expression of the seriousness of your crimes, tempered with some hope that all is not lost for you or for your victims, and that in the future some healing can occur”.
In a statement, Harris said:
All I can do going forward is to try to do better and be a better person. I do not deserve forgiveness, but I do pray that one day you might find it in your hearts.”
According to TMZ, the FBI had been investigating Harris since 2019. He has been in custody at a federal detention facility since his arrest.
- Prosecutors alleged at the time that he solicited videos and images from two 14-year-old brothers
- Harris admitted that he repeatedly asked underage teenagers for obscene videos and images via Snapchat between December 2018 and March 2020
- He also admitted that he also asked at least 10 to 15 others who he knew were minors
- In December ’20, Harris was accused of more sexual misconduct in Illinois, Florida and Texas
- Harris used his popularity on the show to coerce minors at cheerleading competitions into having sex with him and to send him obscene photos of themselves
The allegations against Harris were addressed on the second season of Cheerin an episode titled “Jerry”.
In the episode the two brothers, Sam and Charlie, detailed their horrific sexual abuse at the hands of Harris. They claimed that he solicited explicit photos and sex when he was 19.
He asked me how old I was, and I told him that I was 13.
And then after that, right off the bat, he asked me
‘can I have butt pics?’ or ‘can you send butt pics?’
I was willing to do that and was kind of blindsided by his notoriety at that time.”
According to USA Today, judge Shah also gave Harris eight years of supervised release following his term in prison
Jerry Harris, a former star of the popular Netflix docuseries "Cheer," has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to sex crime charges earlier this year. https://t.co/houSitvBD0
— ABC News (@ABC) July 7, 2022
(Photos, NBC, YouTube; via PinkNews)
