LOS ANGELES:
Former Cheer star Jerry Harris pleaded guilty on Thursday in the federal child pornography case against him, reversing his previous not guilty plea.
According to reports, Harris reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to two of seven federal charges involving soliciting sexually explicit photos from a minor and having illegal sexual conduct with a minor.
Judge Manish S. Shah said, after sentencing is carried out on the two charges, prosecutors will ask for the remaining five to be dropped.
According to a statement from Harris’ lawyers obtained by the Times, the former Netflix star seeks to “take responsibility for his actions and publicly convey his remorse for the harm he has caused the victims.”
The statement also said Harris was a victim of child sexual abuse: “There being no safe harbor to discuss his exploitation, Jerry instead masked his trauma and put on the bright face and infectious smile that the world came to know. As we now know, Jerry became an offender himself as an older teenager.”
Harris was arrested in September 2020 on child pornography charges, just months after Cheer premiered on Netflix to critical and public acclaim. He originally pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The docu-series follows the Navarro College cheer squad on their road to the Daytona national championship.
Harris’ case is addressed in Season 2 of the series, which debuted in January, with an entire episode dedicated to telling the stories of his victims.