Jerry Harris, a popular Netflix star from the docuseries Cheer, has been arrested on a charge of production of child pornography.
Harris was taken into custody on Thursday morning in Illinois, two days after the news that he was under investigation went viral.
The Netflix personality is believed to have solicited pornographic videos and images of minors, while also soliciting sex from a 13-year-old victim at cheerleading competitions.
Harris, 21, is a native of Naperville and could face a minimum of 15 years in prison upon conviction.
He was scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Thursday afternoon.
Harris was also accused of child sexual exploitation and abuse in separate lawsuit filed by an lawyer representing two alleged victims.
According to the official charges, Harris contacted one male victim on Snapchat in 2018 and frequently enticed him to produce sexually explicit videos and photographs of himself … and send them to Harris.
The minor victim told Harris during their initial online encounter that he was 13 years old, the complaint stated.
There was no secret about his age.
When the victim’s parents discovered some of the picture on the boy’s cell phone and confronted him about it, the young teenager said that Harris had also solicited oral sex from him in a bathroom at a cheerleading event they both attended.
Yikes, right?!?
Harris also sought a second in-person sexual encounter at a different competition, according to the same complaint.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the FBI raided the reality star’s home on Monday, whereupon he confessed during an interview that he had solicited lewd images and sex from the boy on multiple occasions.
The complaint states that Harris also admitted to soliciting and receiving child pornography on Snapchat from “at least between 10 to 15 other individuals he knew were minors.”
The charges even include numerous screen shots from the phone of the first victim…including naked images reportedly requested by Harris of the boy doing a cheerleading move called “the Needle.”
Another screen shot contained a message allegedly sent by Harris where he apologized for his behavior.
“I’m sorry for what I’ve done in the past,” the message reads. “I don’t think it’s a good idea we be friends on Snap.”
A spokesperson for Harris, meanwhile, told CNN after the aforementioned lawsuit was followed:
“We categorically dispute the claims made against Jerry Harris, which are alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager.
“We are confident that when the investigation is completed the true facts will be revealed.”
Cheer is a Netflix reality show that centers on the small town of Corsicana, Texas and the hard-driving head cheer coach Monica Aldama, who demands perfection from her team of competitive college athletes.
It recently won two Emmy Awards and is nominated for outstanding unstructured reality program, which will be announced during the last night of the virtual Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday.
Harris was considered the show’s breakout star.
Since its premiere, he has worked the Oscars red carpet as a correspondent for Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show and acted in a sketch for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
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