'Cheer' Star Jerry Harris Indicted On New Charges Of Child Pornography, Sex Abuse
CHICAGO (CBS) -- "Cheer" star Jerry Harris faces seven new charges accusing him of soliciting sex from minors at cheerleading competitions, coercing teenage boys to send him explicit photos and videos of themselves, and traveling across state lines with a minor to engage in sex acts.
The seven-count indictment, made public Friday by attorneys for two of his accusers, adds four new alleged victims to the case. All of the new charges stem from Naperville, Texas, and Orlando.
The original charges against Harris, a Naperville resident, accuse him of luring two boys to send him sexual pictures. But the charges against him say he admitted doing the same to as many as 10 to 15 other children he met through cheerleading competitions.
"Cheer" is a docuseries that details competitive cheerleading, and it is in that atmosphere that Harris is accused of forming relationships with younger male cheerleaders and then exploiting them for child porn pictures and videos and in some cases, sex.
Federal prosecutors unraveled a disturbing pattern that went on for more than a year.
According to the charges, Harris contacted twin underage boys on social media apps, and repeatedly asked them to produce sexually explicit videos and photographs of themselves and send them to Harris. One of the boys agreed to send Harris naked pictures and videos of himself, but the other declined.
The boy who did send the images informed Harris during their initial online encounter that he was 13 years old, the federal complaint states.
Federal agents were tipped off by the mother of the victims, who found pornographic images and text messages with Harris on one of their phones. The boy told the mom, identified in the complaint as Individual A, that Harris had asked for the photos. The boy said he had sent more than a dozen photos of his genitals to Harris, and Harris had sent similar images of himself to the boy, the complaint alleges.
Court documents showed a text exchange where prosecutors said Harris messaged the boy and asked for photos, including "booty" pics.
Prosecutors also showed a young boy doing a cheerleading position know as "the needle." They said a Snapchat account using Harris' name asked the child to do it naked and take a video to show him.
In an interview with investigators, Harris admitted asking for the photos via Snapchat between December 2018 and March 2020, the complaint states. The child is a competitive cheerleader who also met Harris at a cheer event, where Harris asked for oral sex, according the the complaint. The boy refused.
The charges also accuse Harris of sending text messages to both boys, soliciting them for sex, but the boys declined.
Harris also admitted to soliciting and receiving child pornography on Snapchat from at least between 10 to 15 other individuals he knew were minors, according to the charges.
Investigators said in some cases, Harris paid his victims – up to $3,000 in one case. The complaint cites other incidents earlier this year in which Harris repeatedly asked for, and obtained, videos and images from a 17-year-old boy in exchange for money.
Attorneys for the two victims in the original charges released a statement Friday thanking federal investigators for continuing "to investigate this case, locate additional victims and take action."
"This was made possible because our clients' mother initially had the courage to report Harris to the FBI and provided evidentiary proof of the manipulation, sexual harassment, abuse, and exploitation that her sons had suffered," attorneys Morgan Stewart and Sarah Klein said in a statement.
Harris has been held without bond since September, when he was first charged. At the time of his bond hearing, the judge called him a danger.
According to federal prosecutors, Harris admitted that he sexually abused five to 10 victims, including a 15-year-old boy he's accused of assaulting in a public restroom, and that he continued to reach out to boys over the internet even after finding out he was under investigation. Federal prosecutors have said he destroyed his cell phone and obtained a new one to continue reaching out to young boys after he was tipped off about the investigation.
An arraignment on the new charges has not yet been scheduled.
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