'Cheer' star's son indicted on felony child pornography charges
William Austin Aldama, the son of "Cheer" coach Monica Aldama, was arrested Thursday on multiple felony child pornography charges.
Aldama, known as Austin, was indicted last week by a grand jury on 10 counts of "possession with intent to promote of child pornography," according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
He was released on $20,000 bond with conditions.
"In response to the recent media scrutiny surrounding our client, Austin Aldama, we want to set the record straight. The attention drawn to this case, fueled solely by the celebrity status of his mother, is an egregious attempt to distort the truth," his representatives said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
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"Let us be absolutely clear – Austin is innocent. The charges against him lack legal merit, and we are confident that the facts, which will prove his innocence, will come to light during the legal proceedings."
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They continued, "The shameless exploitation of celebrity connections is nothing short of a witch hunt, and it's time to respect the principles of our criminal justice system.
"Criminal allegations, and knee-jerk reactions to them, can have detrimental consequences to the lives involved, and we call on the media and the public to refrain from premature judgments while respecting the privacy of Austin and his family. We will remain committed to seeking justice for Austin, and we will not be swayed by the sensationalism surrounding this case."
Aldama's mother was the focus of the popular Netflix series "Cheer," which followed a cheerleading squad from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
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In July 2022, Jerry Harris, another "Cheer" star, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on multiple charges, including soliciting sex from minors and receiving child pornography. A judge ordered that his sentence be followed by eight years of court-supervised release.
Harris was indicted in 2020 on seven counts of receiving and attempting to receive child pornography, and of persuading minors to engage in sexual contact between August 2017 to August 2020. He pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count each of receiving child pornography and traveling with the intention to engage in illegal sexual conduct.
Harris was arrested in September 2020 on a charge of production of child pornography. Prosecutors alleged at the time that he solicited videos and images from two 14-year-old brothers. He was also indicted on additional misconduct charges in Illinois, Florida and Texas, which claimed he allegedly solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions.
Harris admitted to FBI agents to asking a teenage boy to send him lewd photographs of himself, and to requesting child pornography on Snapchat from at least 10 to 15 others he knew to be minors, according to the indictment.