Cheerleader Jerry Harris, a participant in the Netflix reality show “Cheer”, is being investigated by the FBI on accusations of requesting explicit photos and trying to contact minors for sex, per a USA Today report.
“The FBI is conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity in the area,” FBI special agent and public affairs officer Siobhan Johnson stated in the report.
At the moment, Harris has not been charged criminally and has not been reached for a comment.
The criminal investigation is based on allegations that were reported separately to the police by Varsity, a private company that serves as the global authority for competitive cheerleading and dance. In messages sent to police in Florida and Texas, Varsity’s legal director, Burton Brillhart, said the company first learned of allegations of “inappropriate sexual conduct” against Harris and reported the information to the authorities.
“As a result of the recent allegation, we have barred this person from having any affiliation with Varsity Brands or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, now and in the future,” Brillhart stated in a release.
In the report by USA Today, Brillhart shared a couple of specific messages with law enforcement, which included photos. In one of the images – taken from Snapchat – the top of what appears to be Harris’s face appears labeled with the message “Would you ever want to ****”. The other screenshot – which is a series of text messages – indicates an exchange that started on Friday, May 3, 2019, when an individual named “Jerry Harris” wrote, “Hey btw I found a place for us to do stuff it’s actually pretty good haha.”
Harris was launched to stardom after “Cheer” debuted on January 8 on Netflix. His last post on Instagram, where he has 1.2 million followers, was on September 4th.
