Jeremiah “Jerry” Harris, a breakout star in the successful Netflix docuseries Cheer, pleaded guilty in a federal child pornography case on Thursday, Feb. 10.
Harris reportedly had a change of plea hearing on Thursday afternoon. According to lawyers representing two of the victims, he pleaded guilty to two counts in his indictment: receiving child pornography and using interstate travel to engage in sexual activity with a minor.
The victims were reportedly 14-year-old twin brothers, Charlie and Sam.
The 22-year-old cheerleader and TV personality was indicted in December 2020 for charges alleging that he received and tried to receive child pornography and persuaded minors to partake in sexual acts. Prosecutors said the victims involved in the alleged acts resided in Texas, Florida, and Illinois from August 2017 to August 2020.
In September 2020, the Cheer star was arrested following accusations that he tried to obtain child pornography videos and pictures from the twins numerous times, said a complaint. The complaint also stated that he solicited oral sex from one of the boys during a cheerleading event they attended. Harris allegedly reached out to one of the twins on Instagram in 2018 when they were 13 and he was 19.
The complaint said that one of the boys sent a nude photo to the former cheerleader via Snapchat, as per Harris’ request. They began communicating on FaceTime, where Harris reportedly asked him to expose himself. It also alleged that he was “touchy” and did “odd things” to the twin brothers.
His attorney, Todd Hugh, issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly saying his client gave the guilty plea “because he wishes to take responsibility for his actions and publicly convey his remorse for the harm he has caused the victims in this case.”
“Jerry is a 22-year-old young man whose story can only be understood through the lens of the extreme poverty, sexual abuse, and neglect of his childhood. The criminal conduct in this case also took place in the context of a competitive cheer community where inappropriately sexualizing and sexually abusing children was far too common and too often overlooked,” the statement said.
Hugh continued, claiming Harris was abused in the cheer community as a child, making him believe that his alleged sexual conduct was okay.
“Jerry was himself exploited, manipulated, and sexually abused as a child within the cheer community in a way that perversely made him believe that this sexual conduct was somehow normal when it was not,” he said. “With his plea of guilty, Jerry will spend the rest of his life making amends for what he has done.”
Since his arrest, he has reportedly been in jail seeking mental health treatment and therapy.
Harris rose to fame on Cheer, which follows a cheerleading squad at Navarro College in Corsicana, TX. His allegations were addressed in episode five of the series’ second season, which debuted on Jan. 12, 2022. The episode, titled “Jerry,” featured reactions from his coaches and teammates and an account from the twin boys who accused Harris.
The show released a statement about season two, with some insight about the episode which aired on
“That’s especially true for episode 5, which addresses the critically important topic of sexual abuse. We appreciate that the series covered this important issue and recommend anyone underage watching it does so with a trusted adult. Unfortunately, there are also scenes in the series that include appearances by individuals who are currently on USA Cheer’s list of ineligible participants.”
The show received three Emmy Awards in 2020, including one for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program.
If Harris is found guilty of the charges, he faces 15-30 years in prison. He is currently at the MCC Chicago Federal Prison, where he has been locked up for over a year.
