CHICAGO — Former “Cheer” star Jerry Harris pleaded guilty Thursday to two out of seven counts in his indictment for receiving child pornography and traveling with the intention to engage in illegal sexual conduct.
Harris, 22, of Naperville, is scheduled to appear for his sentencing hearing on June 28.
According to his plea agreement, Harris knowingly received and attempted to receive child pornography around August 2020 in Naperville. During that summer, Harris began talking to a 17-year-old boy and asked the minor to “take sexually explicit photographs and videos” of himself to send to Harris in exchange for about $2,000.
Around May 2019, Harris traveled from Texas to Florida with the intention of engaging in sexual conduct with another minor, who was 15 years old, according to the plea agreement. Before taking a flight from Dallas to Orlando on May 2, Harris, who was 19 at the time, planned to meet the 15-year-old minor in Orlando for illegal activity.
In Orlando, Harris asked the minor to meet in a public bathroom, where Harris was accused of sexually assaulting the minor. Harris acknowledged one of the reasons for his trip to Orlando was to engage in illegal sexual activity, according to court documents.
Harris has been held without bond since his arrest in September 2020 on child pornography charges. He was charged in the seven-count indictment that added four new alleged victims in the case and brought a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted.
When FBI agents 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.
Born in Hinsdale and raised in Bolingbrook, Harris rose to fame on the Emmy-winning reality TV show “Cheer.” 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.
