Cheer star Jerry Harris has been sentenced to 12 years in prison over pornographic images of children and soliciting sex from minors.
Harris pleaded guilty to traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a 15-year-old for money and one count of receiving sexually explicit images from a 17-year-old.
Had he not taken the plea deal, he was facing up to 30 years in prison.
Harris was arrested and charged in September 2020 with one count of producing child pornography for allegedly soliciting nude photos from minors. Feds say that Harris had “multiple other victims who all describe near identical criminal conduct by Harris involving the sexual exploitation of minors.”
In December he was indicted on new charges alleging that he solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced underage teenage boys to send him lewd photographs and videos of themselves.
“As Harris’ fame grew through his acting career, Harris appears to have added to his predatory arsenal by using money to exploit his minor victims,” the federal prosecutors claimed.
“Harris exhibits all the signs of a serial child predator and unless and until he receives significant mental health sex offender treatment, he will remain a danger to any child he encounters, either online or in person,” they added.
