Jerry Harris, the Naperville native and former star of the Netflix docuseries “Cheer,” pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to sex crimes against minors.
Harris, 22, pleaded guilty to receiving nude images from a 17-year-old boy in the summer of 2020 via Snapchat in exchange for money.
He also pleaded guilty to traveling from Dallas to Orlando in May 2019 to meet a 15-year-old boy in a public bathroom where Harris sexually assaulted the boy.
Asked if he was guilty, Harris replied, “Yes I am, judge.”
The two charges he pleaded guilty to carry a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 50.
Harris, who is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago, attended the hearing virtually.
Harris said he was taking Prozac but was fully cognitive and understood his plea agreement. He also said he was seeing psychologists at the federal detention center ”who are helping me with mental health problems through this journey.”
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for June.
Harris’s attorney, Todd Pugh, issued a statement after the hearing that read, in part: “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 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. 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.”
A federal judge ordered Harris held behind bars in October 2020 after he was initially charged with one count of production of child pornography. The judge found that the evidence against him “overwhelmingly supports detention” and suggested he would be a danger to the community if released.
The judge pointed to Harris’ apparent inability to control his behavior as well as the exploitation of his position in the cheerleading community.
He was later charged with child pornography and other crimes involving four victims in a seven-count indictment filed in December 2020 that alleged misconduct in Illinois, Florida and Texas.
Five of the counts were dropped in the plea agreement Harris agreed to Thursday.
The original charges outlined the case of 14-year-old twin boys who were competitive cheerleaders. The boy’s mother found out in February 2020 that Harris allegedly sought and received pornographic images from her sons. The mother contacted authorities, sparking a federal investigation.
On Thursday, the mother issued a statement that read in part: “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. Harris’ admission of guilt today gives me hope that the pain and grief that my sons have suffered as a result of speaking up has not been in vain.”
