CHICAGO — Former “Cheer” star Jerry Harris pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in a Chicago federal court on Thursday, changing his original plea.

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Harris, 22, of Naperville, Illinois, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to soliciting child sexual abuse imagery and illegal sexual conduct with a minor, The New York Times reported. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted as charged, according to Rolling Stone.

Harris has been held without bail since he was arrested in September 2020 on child pornography charges, the Chicago Tribune reported. According to a criminal complaint, Harris admitted to FBI agents who raided his home that he had solicited lewd images and sex from a boy on numerous occasions, the newspaper reported.

During Thursday’s remote hearing, Harris told Judge Manish S. Shah that he reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, the Times reported.

In court documents, prosecutors alleged that Harris began grooming one victim when the boy was 13 years old, according to the Tribune. The boy later told investigators that when he was 15, Harris followed him into a public restroom during a cheerleading event and sexually assaulted him, the newspaper reported.

“Harris’ sexual assault of this 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,” the prosecution filing stated.

Harris’ lawyers released a statement saying that the actor wanted to “take responsibility for his actions and publicly convey his remorse for the harm he has caused the victims.”

Harris had been sexually abused as a child while he was a cheerleader, his attorneys said in the statement.

“There being no safe harbor to discuss his exploitation, Jerry instead masked his trauma and put on the bright face and infectious smile that the world came to know,” the statement said. “As we now know, Jerry became an offender himself as an older teenager.”

Born in Hinsdale and raised in Bolingbrook, Harris rose to fame on the Emmy-winning “Cheer” on Netflix, the Tribune reported. The docuseries follows the competitive cheerleading squad at Navarro College in Texas.

Harris graduated in 2017 from Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, where he was a standout student, and studied at Navarro, the Tribune reported.

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