CHICAGO — Former “Cheer” star Jerry Harris is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday in a federal case alleging he coerced teenage boys to send him obscene photos and videos of themselves and solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions, court records show.
Harris, 22, of Naperville, has been held without bond since his arrest in September 2020 on child pornography charges. After the FBI raided Harris’ Naperville home, he admitted to agents during an interview that he had solicited lewd images and sex from a boy on numerous occasions, according to a criminal complaint originally filed in the case.
Harris was later charged in a seven-count indictment that added four new alleged victims in the case and brought a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted.
A change of plea hearing was set for Thursday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Manish Shah, court records show. It was not clear Wednesday what charges Harris planned to plead guilty to or whether he had reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Prosecutors have alleged in court filings how Harris began grooming one victim when the boy was just 13 years old. The boy told investigators in a recent interview that when he was 15, Harris followed him into a public bathroom at a cheerleading event and sexually assaulted him.
“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 prosecution filing stated.
After Harris was tipped off by the owner of a gymnasium who had been interviewed by law enforcement, he destroyed his cellphone and acquired a new “clean” phone “to continue to reach out and victimize minor boys,” prosecutors have said.
Born in Hinsdale and raised in Bolingbrook, Harris rose to fame on the Emmy-winning “Cheer,” which premiered in January. The docuseries follows the competitive cheerleading squad at Navarro College in Texas.
Harris graduated in 2017 from Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, where he was a standout student, and studied at Navarro.
Viewers and celebrities took note of the way he enthusiastically motivated his fellow cheerleaders while they performed stunts, also known as “mat talking.”
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