Entertainment
Cheer star Monica Aldama’s son, 27, charged with possession of child pornography-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
This isn’t the first big child porn scandal to hit the Cheer community in recent years.
Monica Aldama’s son has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography (Picture: Jim Spellman/Getty Images)
Cheer star Monica Aldama’s son has been arrested on child pornography charges.
Austin Aldama was handcuffed and taken into custody last week on January 18 in Navarro County, Texas, on an open warrant for his arrest.
The arrest warrant referenced a grand jury indictment on 10 counts of possession of child pornography.
Aldama, 27, was later released on bond with certain conditions to be met.
These conditions include being prohibited from viewing pornographic images.
Aldama will also be required to submit to random drug testing and voluntary searches of his electronic devices.
Austin Aldama, 27, was released on bond (Picture: Instagram)
The son of the famous cheerleading coach was reportedly found with videos depicting children under the age of 10 engaged in sex acts, as per the charging documents cited by prosecutors.
As reported by TMZ, Aldama has not yet been arraigned and, therefore, hasn’t entered a plea at this time.
The shocking news comes not long after the Cheer community in Navarro – featured in the Netflix series – was hit by another child pornography scandal.
In 2022, one of the stars, Jerry Harris, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years behind bars in the US for crimes relating to indecent images of children and soliciting sex from minors.
The 24-year-old previously pleaded guilty to one count of travelling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of receiving indecent images.
He is yet to enter a plea (Picture: Navarro County Sheriff’s Office)
Then, in February of that year, he pleaded guilty to two of seven counts against him, including persuading a 17-year-old to send him sexually explicit images for money and travelling to Florida for the purpose of ‘engaging in illicit sexual conduct’ with a 15-year-old.
According to his indictment, Harris allegedly solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions.
He is also said to have convinced teenage boys to send him photographs and videos of themselves.
At the time, the head coach said she was ‘shattered’ by the crimes committed by Harris.
She said in a statement: ‘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.’
The Cheer community has been hit by other child porn scandals in recent years (Picture: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Aldama’s mother, Monica, was sued in April 2023 for allegedly covering up a former student’s sexual assault.
Monica, 51, denied the claims made against her, saying she was ‘heartbroken by the false allegations.’
The suit was later dismissed, which Monica confirmed with a lengthy social media post.
TV series Cheer centres around the Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team, which is coached by Monica.
The first episode aired in 2020.
Netflix has yet to confirm if the series is returning for season 3 yet.
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