Jerry Harris served one of his sentence guidelines behind bars as he serves 12 years in federal prison after being charged with child sex crimes.
In court documents, obtained by TMZThe convicted sex offender, who rose to fame in the 2020 Netflix docuseries Cheer, “paid a total of $45,200” to two different victim funds.
The 25-year-old paid $35,000 to the AVAA crime victims fund and $10,000 to the Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act fund.
He was required to do this and pay more than “$135,000 in compensation” to his victims. It is not known whether he has complied with this last requirement.
Last month, Harris was sentenced to 12 years in prison and eight years of court-supervised probation after his release for soliciting minors for sex and pressuring young children to send him explicit photos and videos.
Jerry Harris completed one of his sentencing guidelines by serving 12 years in federal prison after being charged with child sex crimes; seen in 2020
At his sentencing, Harris insisted he was “not a bad person.”
At his hearing in federal court in Chicago, the disgraced star apologized to his victims and said he is “still learning who” he is.
Prosecutors had pushed for a lengthy sentence, saying Harris’ status as a popular celebrity had allowed him to “persuade and entice” his young victims to engage in sexual conduct.
Judge Manish S Shah told the social media star and champion cheerleader to consider the sentence as an “expression of the gravity of your crimes, tempered with some hope that all is not lost for you or your victims, and that some healing may occur in the future.”
Harris, who has been held in a federal detention center since his arrest in September 2020, appeared in court for the sentencing, which lasted about 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 from the bottom of my heart that your suffering may come to an end.”
She added: “I’m not a bad 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 cited as authors of character letters used by her defense include fellow cheer stars Navarro University head coach Monica Aldama, her teammate Morgan Simianer and the parents of Harris’ fellow cheerleader Gabi Butler.
Harris, who quickly rose to fame in the first season of the hit Netflix series about cheerleaders, had pleaded guilty to two charges: receiving child pornography in interstate commerce and traveling across state lines with the intent to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
The Texas native was 19 years old at the time of his arrest.
Harris, of 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 statements were made during a hearing in a US federal court in Chicago in February.
Harris rose to fame in the 2020 Netflix docuseries Cheer; she was seen with LaDarius Marshall, Monica Aldama, and Gabi Butler on January 29, 2020.
Harris pleaded guilty to two of the seven charges against him, including persuading a 17-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit photographs in exchange for money.
The other charge stemmed from a trip he took to Florida for the purpose of “engaging in illicit sexual conduct” with a 15-year-old girl.
Prosecutors also said at the time that he solicited videos and images from two 14-year-old brothers.
U.S. prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining five charges in a plea deal.
According to the indictment, Harris allegedly solicited minors for sex at cheerleading competitions and convinced teens to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.
Harris later admitted to FBI agents that he asked a teenager to send him photographs of himself and that he solicited child pornography on Snapchat from at least 10 to 15 other people he knew were minors, according to the indictment.
“Harris’ sexual assault of (a) child in a public place, in an unlocked public restroom, during an event attended by dozens of responsible adults demonstrates that Harris either does not care about being caught committing his crimes or simply cannot stop,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Parente wrote of one of Harris’ victims.
One count of child pornography in the United States carries a sentence of five to 20 years, and the second count 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 Human Trafficking Act fund.
Authorities said Harris coerced underage victims into sending him graphic photos and videos of themselves while soliciting sex from children as young as 13 at cheerleading competitions across the country, according to the Tribune.
In December 2020, Harris was charged with alleged misconduct at such competitions in Illinois, Florida and Texas, with federal prosecutors alleging that Harris had attempted to persuade a minor to perform oral sex at a cheerleading event.
Authorities also say he solicited another minor for sex in a different state and admitted to having five to 10 victims in total.
Prosecutors had painted him as a prominent figure within the competitive cheerleading community because of his role in the popular Netflix documentary series, which follows a cheerleading squad from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
He was required to do this and pay over “$135,000 in restitution” to his victims. It is unknown if he has complied with this requirement; seen in 2020
The Naperville native has been behind bars since fall 2020, when U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain said he would be a danger to the community if released following an initial charge of one count of producing child pornography.
McShain added that Harris had used his position within the cheerleading community to meet and propose to 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 children at cheerleading events across the country.
Authorities said Harris continued to sexually pursue minors even after learning he was under investigation, and prosecutors asked the court to deny him bail.
Meanwhile, Harris’s lawyers had asked the courts to release him under house arrest, adding that he suffers from asthma and is at risk of contracting COVID-19 in jail.
