Prosecutors say they want Jerry Harris, the 22-year-old star of Netflix’s Cheer, to spend 15 years in prison for child porn and sex crimes involving minors. The proposed sentence is light compared to guidelines that recommend about 50 years, the Chicago Tribune reported. “Like many child predators, Harris took advantage of a power imbalance to sexually exploit his young victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Guzman wrote in a court filing. “He preyed on the insecurity and youth of boys in the cheerleading community to abuse them.” Prosecutors say they’re proposing a sentence less than the guidelines because Harris had a childhood “full of setbacks and developmental delays,” including bouts of poverty and homelessness. Harris was also sexually assaulted as a child twice, Harris’ attorney Joshua Herman wrote in a separate filing. “These experiences warped Jeremiah’s view of ‘normal’ relationships, especially given how they occurred alongside social media and within the ecosystem of the Cheer community,” Herman wrote in his request for a six-year sentence. Harris will be sentenced on July 6.
