Jerry Harris has entered a plea.
The 22-year-old former star of Netflix breakout hit series Cheer pled guilty on Thursday (February 10) in a federal child pornography case, via NBC News.
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He was arrested in September of 2020, and indicted back in December of 2020 on several charges alleging he received and attempted to receive child pornography, and persuaded minors to engage in sexual contact. The alleged acts involved victims in Florida, Illinois and Texas and took place between August of 2017 and August of 2020.
He was accused of soliciting child pornography images and videos from two 14-year-old brothers on multiple occasions when he was arrested.
His lawyer issued a statement following the news of the guilty plea.
“Jerry Harris has entered a plea of guilty today because he wishes to take responsibility for his actions and publicly convey his remorse for the harm he has caused the victims in this case. Jerry is a 22-year-old young man whose story can only be understood though the lens of the extreme poverty, sexual abuse, and neglect of his childhood. The criminal conduct in this case also took place in the context of a competitive Cheer Community where inappropriately sexualizing and sexually abusing children was far too common and too often overlooked,” the statement reads.
“Jerry was himself 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. 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 statement continues.
“Since his incarceration, Jerry has actively sought out and is participating in mental health treatment and therapy both for his conduct and the diagnosed trauma disorders for which he suffers. With his plea of guilty, Jerry will spend the rest of his life making amends for what he has done. His hope is that he can demonstrate to those harmed by his conduct that he can one day earn back his value to them as a human being and that as he continues to become an adult, he can indeed make a contribution that matters.”
