Jerry Harris fulfilled one of his sentencing guidelines behind bars as he serves 12 years in federal prison after being charged of sexual crimes with minors.
In court documents, obtained by TMZ, the convicted sex offender, who rose to fame on Netflix’s 2020 Netflix docuseries Cheer, ‘paid a total of $45,200’ to two different victim funds.
The 25-year-old paid the AVAA crime victims fund $35,000 and $10,000 to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act fund.
He was required to do this as well as pay more than ‘$135,000 in restitution’ to his victims. It is unknown whether he has completed the latter requirement.
Last month, Harris was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and 8 years of court supervised probation following his release for soliciting sex from minors and pressuring young boys to send him explicit photos and videos.
Jerry Harris fulfilled one of his sentencing guidelines as he serves 12 years in federal prison after being charged of sexual crimes with minors; seen in 2020
As he was sentenced, Harris insisted he is ‘not an evil person.’
At his hearing in federal court in Chicago, the disgraced star apologized to his victims and said he was ‘still learning who’ he is.
Prosecutors had pushed for a lengthy sentence, saying that Harris’ status as a popular celebrity had enabled him to ‘persuade and entice’ his young victims to engage in sexual conduct.
Judge Manish S Shah told the social media star and cheerleading champion to consider the sentence 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, who remained in custody at a federal detention facility since his arrest in September 2020, appeared in court for the sentence, which lasted around seven hours.
Addressing his victims before receiving his sentence, he said: ‘I am deeply sorry for all the trauma my abuse has caused you.
‘I pray deep down that your suffering comes to an end.’
He added: ‘I’m not an evil person. I’m still learning who I am and what my purpose is.’
In court documents, obtained by TMZ, the convicted sex offender ‘paid a total of $45,200’ to two different victim funds
Notable figures listed as authors of character letters used by his defense included other stars of Cheer such as Navarro college head coach Monica Aldama, teammate Morgan Simianer, and the parents of Harris’ fellow cheerleader, Gabi Butler.
Harris, who quickly rose to fame in season one of the cheerleading-related Netflix hit, had entered guilty pleas to two charges – receiving child porn using interstate commerce, and traveling over state lines with intent to illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
The Texas native was 19 years old at the time of his arrest.
Harris, from the Chicago suburb of Naperville, previously pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of receiving child pornography.
His pleas were entered during a plea hearing in a US federal court in Chicago in February.
Harris rose to fame on Netflix’s 2020 Netflix docuseries Cheer; seen with LaDarius Marshall, Monica Aldama and Gabi Butler on January 29, 2020
Harris pleaded guilty to two of seven counts against him including persuading a 17-year-old to send him sexually explicit photographs for money.
The other count stemmed from a trip he took to Florida for the purpose of ‘engaging in illicit sexual conduct’ with a 15-year-old.
Prosecutors also alleged at the time that he solicited videos and images from two 14-year-old brothers.
US prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining five counts under a plea agreement.
According to the indictment, Harris allegedly solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.
Harris later admitted to FBI agents to asking a teenage boy to send him photographs of himself, and to requesting child pornography on Snapchat from at least 10 to 15 others he knew to be minors, according to the indictment.
‘Harris’ sexual assault of (one) boy in such a public place, in an unlocked public bathroom, during an event attended by dozens of responsible adults demonstrates that Harris either does not care about being caught committing his offenses, or simply cannot stop himself,’ Assistant US Attorney Christopher Parente wrote of one of Harris’ victims.
A US child pornography charge carries a sentence ranging from five to 20 years and the second charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.
The 25-year-old wrote a check to the AVAA crime victims fund for $35,000 and $10,000 to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act fund
Authorities said Harris coerced minor victims to send him graphic photos and videos of themselves while soliciting sex from boys as young as 13 at cheerleading competitions across the country, according to the Tribune.
In December 2020, Harris was indicted on charges alleging misconduct at such competitions in Illinois, Florida and Texas, with federal prosecutors alleging that Harris had attempted to persuade a minor to engage in oral sex at one cheerleading event.
Authorities also claim he solicited another minor for sex in a different state, and admitted to having five to 10 victims in all.
Prosecutors had painted him as a major figure within the competitive cheerleading community due to his role on the popular Netflix docuseries, which follows a cheerleading squad from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
He was required to do this as well as pay more than ‘$135,000 in restitution’ to his victims. It is unknown whether he has completed this requirement; seen in 2020
The Naperville native has been behind bars since the fall of 2020, when US Magistrate Judge Heather McShain said he would be a danger to the community if released following an initial charge of one count of production of child porn.
McShain added that Harris had used his position within the cheerleading community to both meet and proposition his young victims, while rejecting the ‘blurred line’ between Harris’ age and that of his alleged victims.
‘(Harris) was not a child,’ McShain said. ‘He was an adult.’
Federal prosecutors described Harris as a sexual predator who used his fame to victimize young boys at cheerleading events nationwide.
Authorities said Harris continued to pursue minors in a sexual manner even after he learned he was under investigation, with prosecutors asking the court that Harris be denied bond.
Meanwhile, Harris’ attorneys had requested the courts to release him on house arrest, while adding that he suffers from asthma and is at risk for COVID-19 in jail.
