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After Cheer star Jerry Harris was arrested on child pornography charges yesterday, his coach and costar Monica Aldama is breaking her silence. Aldama, the head coach of the Navarro College Cheer team featured on the hit Netflix docuseries, issued a statement on her Instagram earlier today addressing the news and reacting to Harris’ arrest, E News reports.
“My heart is shattered into a million pieces,” she wrote. “I am devastated by this shocking, unexpected news. Our children must be protected from abuse and exploitation, and I’m praying hard for the victims and everyone affected. Please respect our privacy as our family mourns during this heartbreaking time.”
Cheer showed Aldama’s close bond with her team, a group of students she mentored, coached and took under her wing at the school, acting as more than just a coach to many athletes who saw her as a maternal figure.
Harris was arrested yesterday on a production of child pornography charge after a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago accused him of “enticing an underage boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself.” Harris is now 21 years old, and the boy was 13 years old at the time. If charged, he faces between 15 and 30 years in prison for production of child pornography, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
A lawsuit filed earlier this week by an attorney representing two alleged victims accuses Harris of child sexual exploitation and abuse, claiming that the Netflix star “exploited his popularity and position of fame with young male cheer athletes” in the time “leading up to, during, and following the distribution of the Cheer docuseries.” The lawsuit states that Harris’ two alleged victims, both now 14, were 13 years old when the abuse began.
Harris has denied any accusations made against him. In a statement to Entertainment Tonight earlier this week, his spokesperson told the outlet, “We categorically dispute the claims made against Jerry Harris, which are alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager. We are confident that when the investigation is completed the true facts will be revealed.”
