*“Cheer” star Jerry Harris has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for child pornography charges.
Following his release from prison, Harris, 22, will complete eight years of a court-supervised release, PEOPLE reports, citing NBC News.
We previously reported that Harris was arrested in 2020 on child pornography charges. The U.S. The Attorney’s Office released sexually-explicit evidence at the time to support the case, including photos and screenshots of messages from Harris to his alleged victims.
Harris reportedly admitted to exchanging photos and videos with underage boys (upwards of 15 boys) and repeatedly soliciting them to connect in person.
READ MORE: ‘Cheer’ Star Jerry Harris Accused of Sexual Assault on 15-Year-Old Boy
In screenshots, Harris allegedly wrote to one teen boy on Snapchat who was performing a cheerleading position called “the needle.” “Do it naked and take a video and show me,” wrote Jerry.
In a separate exchange, after the boy told Harris he was only 13, he allegedly proceeded to request pictures of the boy’s “face …. and booty.” After giving in and sending photos of his private parts to Harris, he allegedly reciprocated with photos of his own, including one of him masturbating.
Prosecutors said Harris had been “grooming” one victim since he was 13. Once the boy turned 15, Harris allegedly sexually assaulted him in an unlocked public restroom during a cheer event in 2019.
“Harris’ sexual assault of this boy in such a public place, in an unlocked public bathroom, during an event attended by dozens of responsible adults demonstrates that Harris either does not care about being caught committing his offenses, or simply cannot stop himself,” the prosecutors stated in a memo, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
In February, “Harris pleaded guilty to two out of seven sexual abuse and child pornography charges — receiving child pornography and crossing state lines for the purpose of engaging in an illicit sexual act with a minor under the age of 15,” per PEOPLE.
Harris was sentenced on Wednesday, USA Today reports. He originally pleaded not guilty more than a year ago. His defense team said in a statement that he made the decision to plead guilty “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 through the lens of the extreme poverty, sexual abuse, and neglect of his childhood,” the statement continued. “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.”
Harris is best known for the Netflix docuseries “Cheer” and for serving as a correspondent at the Oscars for Ellen DeGeneres.
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