Jerry Harris, once a celebrated public figure following his appearance on Netflix’s Cheer, has been sentenced in the federal sex-crimes case brought against him. On Wednesday, the 22-year-old was sentenced to 12 years in prison for charges related to seeking sex and sexual imagery, including nude photos and videos, from minors, USA Today reports. His prison time will be followed by eight years of supervised release.
Back in February, Harris pleaded guilty to two of the seven charges brought against him in Chicago. Harris admitted guilt in convincing a 17-year-old to send him sexually explicit imagery for payment and traveling to Florida “for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct” with a 15-year-old. Prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining charges as part of Harris’s plea agreement. Harris had originally pleaded not guilty in December 2020 and denied all charges through a spokesperson. He has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since his arrest in September 2020.
Harris’s legal team argued for a six-year prison sentence before an eight-year supervised release, noting his “warped” perception of relationships after being sexually assaulted at age 13 by a 19-year-old from his cheer gym. According to USA Today, character references from more than 80 people, including Navarro College cheerleading coach Monica Aldama, were submitted on Harris’s behalf.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Guzman said in court documents that Harris’s past trauma was “not a blank check to commit sex offenses against minors,” requesting a 15-year prison term. “Harris used his celebrity and wealth to continue his exploitation of children, expanding the tools available to him to manipulate them into gratifying his seemingly insatiable sexual desires,” Guzman wrote.
Harris’s court case made national headlines and was addressed in season two of Cheer, most pointedly in its fifth episode, “Jerry.” The episode features interviews with Charlie and Sam, the teenage brothers who accused Harris of sexual misconduct just days before he was arrested. Each of them gave statements in court on Wednesday, sharing the ways in which Harris’s abuse changed their lives.
Charlie, who said he became so scared of public restrooms after Harris attempted to coerce him for sex in one that he stopped eating at school, wrote in his statement, “I knew in my heart and soul that what Jerry was doing to me and Sam was bad, but everyone was telling me that is just the way Jerry is and that if I were to ever to report him that everyone would turn their back on me because I would have ruined the life of such an amazing person that everyone loved.”
U.S. District Judge Manish Shah told Harris that his 12-year sentence was an “expression of the seriousness of your crimes, tempered with some hope that all is not lost for you or for your victims, and that in the future some healing can occur.”
Harris apologized to his victims in court, calling his actions “wrong and selfish.” Via a copy of Harris’s statement, provided to USA Today by his attorney Todd Pugh, he added, “All I can do going forward is to try to do better and be a better person. I do not deserve forgiveness, but I do pray that one day you might find it in your hearts.”