Jerry Harris, 21, who was arrested in September this year over child pornography charges, now faces seven new charges related to alleged solicitation of sex from minors.
Harris, who was one of the breakout stars from the Netflix documentary series Cheer, has been held in a federal detention centre since his September arrest.
The seven new criminal counts he is facing relate to separate acts that allegedly took place in Florida, Illinois and Texas, and involve five alleged victims who are all minors.
In the new charges, Harris is alleged to have solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions, as well as convincing teen boys to send explicit photography and video material over Instagram, Snapchat and FaceTime.
This adds to allegations made against Harris back in October, which alleged that he had sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy in the toilets of a cheerleading event.
“[It] demonstrates that Harris either does not care about being caught committing his offences, or simply cannot stop himself,” prosecutors said at the time.
“Unless and until he receives significant mental health sex offender treatments, he will remain a danger to any child he encounters, either online or in-person.”
Prosecutors also claimed that Harris “exhibits all the signs of a serial child predator.”
Todd Pugh, attorney for Harris, has previously disputed the lawsuit in an official statement, but has made no statement yet on the new criminal charges facing Harris.
“We categorically dispute the claims made against Jerry Harris, which are alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, attorneys for twin brothers who allege Harris sent them explicit messages when they were 13-years-old, have issued a statement around the need to “locate victims” and take action to support them.
“This was made possible because our clients’ mother initially had the courage to report Harris to the FBI and provided evidentiary proof of the manipulation, sexual harassment, abuse, and the exploitation that her sons had suffered,” Morgan Stewart and Sarah Klein said in a statement.
Harris could be facing up to 30-years in prison for the production of child pornography.
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