Two cheerleaders featured in the Netflix series “Cheer” were arrested this week in separate criminal cases relating to alleged sexual misconduct involving minors, according to USA Today.
Robert Joseph Scianna Jr., a 25-year-old coach and choreographer, was arrested Wednesday in Virginia and charged with felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and using an electronic communication device to solicit sex, USA Today reported, citing the Chesterfield County Police Department. Police said he arranged to meet a juvenile whom he met through a social media platform for sex, according to USA Today. Scianna could not be reached Friday for comment.
Mitchell Ryan, a member of the Navarro College cheer team featured in “Cheer,” was arrested Wednesday in Texas, USA Today reported. Ryan, 23, was charged with felony aggravated sexual assault of a child relating to an incident that allegedly occurred July 24, USA Today reported, citing Dallas County Sheriff’s Department records.
“This has been a nightmare for Mitch and his family,” Ryan’s attorney Jeremy Rosenthal told USA Today. “We look forward to Dallas County hearing the truth and this case being over.” Rosenthal declined further comment.
In December, “Cheer” star Jerry Harris, already facing federal child pornography charges, was indicted on new charges that allege he solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves.
The new seven-count indictment that was made public in December was not unexpected. In the original complaint filed in September, not only did prosecutors allege that Harris admitted to FBI agents to asking a teenage boy to send him lewd photographs of himself but that he also requested on Snapchat child pornography from at least 10 to 15 others he knew to be minors.
Harris, 21, of Naperville, Illinois, has been held in a federal detention facility without bond since he was arrested on child pornography charges in September, and a judge has subsequently suggested that Harris would pose a public danger if released from custody.
Attorneys for two of Harris’ alleged victims, teenage brothers who have sued Harris in Texas, praised authorities to continue to “locate victims and take action.”
“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 exploitation that her sons had suffered,” the statement from attorneys Morgan Stewart and Sarah Klein read.
Harris, who was born in the Chicago suburb of Hinsdale and raised in Bolingbrook, was the breakout star of the Emmy-winning docuseries that follows the cheerleading team from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
“Cheer” was an instant success when it was released in January, and Harris drew fans for his upbeat attitude and his encouraging “mat talk.” Earlier this year, he interviewed celebrities on the red carpet at the Academy Awards for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Rich Barak of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.
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