Cheer star Jerry Harris has been indicted on seven new child sex crime charges relating to four alleged victims, three months after he was...
Cheer star Jerry Harris has been indicted on seven new child sex crime charges relating to four alleged victims, three months after he was first arrested and charged with producing child porn.
Harris, who shot to fame in January as one of the stars of the popular Netflix series, was slapped with the new charges this week, including allegations that he convinced four minors to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves and crossed states with the purpose of having sex with one victim.
The charges relate to alleged incidents dating back three years and spanning multiple states.
The 21-year-old celebrity cheerleader was first arrested in September and charged with one count of producing child pornography.
This came just days after 14-year-old cheerleading twin brothers filed a lawsuit in Texas alleging he solicited sexually explicit photos from them for a year and asked one of them for oral sex.
Harris has been held in a federal detention facility without bond since his arrest, with a judge suggesting he would pose a danger to the public if released.
Cheer star Jerry Harris has been indicted on seven new child sex crime charges relating to four alleged victims, three months after he was first arrested and charged with producing child porn
The new seven-count indictment was filed in US District Court in northern Illinois Thursday and made public Friday.
It accuses Harris of four counts of producing child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography, one count of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity, and one count of traveling with the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor.
The alleged acts took place between August 2017 and August of this year and across three states of Florida, Illinois and Texas.
Two charges relate to an alleged victim known as Minor 1.
The first alleges that between December 2018 and March 2020 in Naperville, Illinois, Harris knowingly enticed the victim to produce sexually explicit photos or videos of themself.
The second charge related to Minor 1 alleges that in May 2019 in Florida Harris enticed the child to engage in sexual activity.
Another charge alleges Harris enticed another victim, Minor 2, to produce sexually explicit photos or videos of themself between July and August 2020 in Naperville.
Harris has been charged with another count of the same charge relating to Minor 4, between February and May 2020 in Corsicana, Texas, and another relating to Minor 5 between August 2017 and May 2019.
Another charge involving Minor 5 relates to an alleged incident where, in May 2019, Harris traveled from Texas to Florida with the intent to engage in a sexual act with the then-15-year-old.
Attorneys for two of Harris' alleged victims, the teenage twins who have sued Harris in Texas, welcomed the new charges Friday and praised authorities for continuing to 'locate victims and take action.'
Harris, who shot to fame in January as one of the stars of the popular Netflix series, was slapped with the new charges this week, including allegations that he convinced teenage boys to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves
The charges relate to alleged incidents dating back three years and spanning multiple states. Monica Aldama, Jerry Harris, Gabi Butler and La'Darius Marshall, all stars of Cheer, pictured together in January
Harris on the red carpet at the Oscars in February. The 21-year-old celebrity cheerleader was first arrested in September and charged with one count of producing child pornography
'This was made possible because our clients' mother initially had the courage to report Harris to the FBI and provided evidentiary proof of the manipulation, sexual harassment, abuse, and exploitation that her sons had suffered,' the statement from attorneys Morgan Stewart and Sarah Klein read.
The announcement that new charges have been brought was not unexpected.
In the original criminal complaint filed in September, prosecutors said Harris admitted to FBI agents that he had requested on Snapchat child porn from at least 10 to 15 children he knew were underage.
The single count of producing child porn brought in September alleged that Harris enticed a 13-year-old boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself.
The boy in question is one of the twins who filed the lawsuit.
Court documents claim Harris admitted to investigators that he had asked the boy to send him photographs and videos of his penis and buttocks on Snapchat.
Harris also allegedly admitted to engaging in a sex act with a 15-year-old at a cheer competition.
Harris home in Naperville, Illinois, was raided by the FBI in September (above)
Harris' attorney Todd Pugh has not issued a statement about the new charges but has previously said the cheerleader denies the allegations in the lawsuit.
'(We) categorically dispute the claims made against Jerry Harris, which are alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager,' he said.
'We are confident that when the investigation is completed, the true facts will be revealed.'
Harris, who was born in the Chicago suburb of Hinsdale and raised in nearby Bolingbrook, was the breakout star of the Emmy-winning docuseries that follows the cheerleading team from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
Cheer was an instant success when it was released in January, and Harris drew fans for his upbeat attitude and his encouraging 'mat talk.'
Earlier this year, he interviewed celebrities on the red carpet at the Academy Awards for 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.'
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