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Jerry Harris, one of the stars of the Netflix documentary series Cheer, has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges of sexual misconduct.
According to legal documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, the 21-year-old star pleaded not guilty to seven charges total, including four counts of sexual exploitation of children, one count of receiving child pornography, one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor, and one count of enticement on Thursday, December 17.
Harris faces a minimum sentence of 15 years if convicted for each of the sexual exploitation charges and a minimum of 10 years for the enticement charge, ET reported.
Harris was arrested in September on a federal charge for allegedly producing child pornography.
He is accused of “enticing an underage boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself,” according to a statement from federal officials.
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.”
Harris is also being sued by two underage twin brothers who filed a lawsuit against Harris for allegedly sexually abusing them and demanding nude photographs from them.
The suit, filed in Texas days before Harris’ arrest, states the plaintiffs are both competitive cheerleaders who first met Harris in 2018, when they were 13.
The suit alleges he leveraged his prominence in the cheerleading community to groom the two for abuse.
