Jerry Harris, former star of the Netflix documentary series "Cheer," pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of receiving child pornography and soliciting sex from minors that could keep him in prison for several years.
Harris, 22, was indicted in December 2020 on numerous charges alleging he received and attempted to receive child pornography and persuaded minors to engage in sexual contact. Prosecutors said the alleged acts involved victims in Florida, Illinois and Texas from August 2017 to August 2020.
During the change of plea hearing took place Thursday afternoon, February 10, before a U.S. District Judge, Manish Shah, pleaded guilty to two of seven felony counts against him, one for persuading a 17-year-old to send him sexually explicit photographs for money and the other stemming from a trip he took to Florida for the purpose of "engaging in illicit sexual conduct" with a 15-year-old.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining five counts under a plea agreement.
Harris, who is from the Chicago suburb of Naperville, was arrested in September 2020 on a charge of production of child pornography. Prosecutors alleged at the time that he solicited videos and images from two 14-year-old brothers.
According to a complaint, federal prosecutors said that Harris admitted to repeatedly asking a minor teen for pornographic videos and images between December 2018 and March 2020.
Then in December of that year, he was indicted on more charges alleging misconduct in Illinois, Florida and Texas. According to the indictment, Harris allegedly solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment