Cheer star Jerry Harris pleads guilty to US child pornography charges | US News

Jerry Harris, star of the Netflix TV series Cheer, has pleaded guilty to federal charges of receiving child pornography and soliciting sex from minors.

The 22-year-old admitted one count of travelling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of receiving child pornography, a US attorney’s office spokesman said.

He pleaded guilty to two of seven counts against him, after US prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining five counts under a plea agreement.

On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to persuading a 17 year-old to send him sexually explicit photographs for money, and travelling to Florida for the purpose of “engaging in illicit sexual conduct” with a 15-year-old.

His pleas were entered during a plea hearing in a US federal court in Chicago.

A US child pornography charge carries a sentence ranging from five to 20 years and the second charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Harris, from the Chicago suburb of Naperville, was a breakout star of Cheer, a reality TV series which tracked a competitive cheerleading squad from Navarro College in Texas as they aim to win a national title.

The second series of Cheer addresses the investigation into Harris, and dedicates an entire episode to the incidents, titled “Jerry”.

Harris, who was arrested in September 2020, remains in custody at a federal detention facility.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on 28 June.