TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains information about child pornography.
At the beginning of 2020, Netflix’s Cheer was one of the most-watched television programs in the world. Now, one of its most popular stars, Jerry Harris, has been arrested and charged with producing child pornography.
According to the NYTimes, Harris “repeatedly enticed” a 13-year-old boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself from December 2018 to March 2019 to send on to the 21-year-old via Snapchat.
Harris was interviewed by authorities in Chicago on Monday, September 14, where the now former-cheerleader admitted he had exchanged photographs with the minor. He also admitted that he had asked for and received “child pornography” from at least 10 to 15 other minors and had sex with a 15-year-old at a cheerleading event in 2019.
One of the boys who filed the lawsuit had sent Harris more than a dozen photographs and videos of his genitals, with Harris sending photos of the same nature back. The man also sent videos of himself masturbating. According to the boy, he was just 13-years-old at the time when the first requests were made.
Harris appeared in court on Thursday and faces one count of producing child pornography and will be held in custody until a detention hearing on September 21. Prosecutors have asked that he be denied bail due to posing a “danger to the community”.
On Monday, the same day he was questioned by police, a pair of twin brothers filed a lawsuit against Harris in Texas, saying that he had sent and requested sexually explicit messages via text and social media. They also alleged that he had asked one of them for sex at a cheerleading competition.
In the United States, production of child pornography carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.
Harris rose to fame after his emotional backstory and positive attitude made him a stand-out of the series.
This is an evolving story.
Read more stories from TheLatch— and follow us on Facebook.
