Netflix docuseries Cheer Star Jerry Harris has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges of sexual misconduct.
According to legal documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, on Thursday, Dec. 17, the 21-year-old star pleaded guilty to seven charges total, including four counts of sexual exploitation of children, one count of receiving child pornography, one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor and one count of enticement.
If convicted for each sexual exploitation charge, Harris will face a minimum sentence of 15 years and a minimum of 10 years for the enticement charge.
According to a statement from federal officials, Harris has been in jail since he was arrested in September for allegedly producing child pornography. He is accused of “enticing an underage boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself.”
The Netflix star allegedly “contacted the underage boy on a social media application and repeatedly enticed him to produce sexually explicit videos and photographs of himself and send them to Harris, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The minor victim informed Harris during their initial online encounter that he was 13 years old.”
Two underage twin brothers are suing Harris in a lawsuit for allegedly sexually abusing them and demanding nude photographs. According to PEOPLE, The lawsuit states that both plaintiffs are competitive cheerleaders who first met Harris in 2018 when they were just 13 years old.
The suit alleges he leveraged his prominence in the cheerleading community to groom the two for abuse.
Harris’s attorney had no comments on the following charges. However, in September, a spokesperson for Harris said in a statement, “We categorically dispute the claims made against Jerry Harris, which are alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager. We are confident that when the investigation is completed, the true facts will be revealed.”
Earlier this month, Harris was hit with seven additional charges of alleged sex crimes and child pornography.
According to an indictment obtained by the Chicago Sun, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune, prosecutors charged Harris with receiving and attempting to receive child pornography and four counts of using, persuading, inducing and enticing a minor “to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.”
He was also charged with one count of using the internet to allegedly “persuade, induce, and entice” one of the minors to engage in sexual activity. The alleged acts took place in Florida, Illinois, and Texas.
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