Cheer star Monica Aldama’s son Austin has been arrested on child porn charges

The world of the Netflix docu-series Cheer has been hit with another instalment of child sexual porn allegations after the head of the Navarro College’s squad, Monica Aldama’s son Austin, was taken into police custody on a ten-count indictment.

According to TMZ, Austin Aldama was charged in Navarro County on Thursday after being taken into police custody. This comes after an open warrant for his arrest was issued, following a grand jury indictment.

After being taken to the station, he was booked, had his mug shot taken, and released on bail. His freedom came with conditions. These include random drug testing and allowing for searches of his phone and computer. In addition, Austin is barred from looking at any pornographic images. The court documents – which the gossip site has seen – alleged that Austin’s computer was storing files detailing children under ten years old performing sex acts.

According to PEOPLE magazine, Austin’s bond was $20,000 a charge, but the Sheriff’s Office let him off without paying due to agreeing to meet conditions. Whether he has been arraigned yet is so far unclear; therefore, it is not yet known how he intends to plead to the accusations.

These allegations against Monica’s son, Austin, come after one of the stars of the Netflix documentary, Jerry Harris, was jailed for 12 years on similar charges in 2022. Widely considered to be one of the breakout stars of the 2020 series because of his tough upbringing but finding a home in cheerleading, prosecutors outlined in court his ability to “persuade and entice” young boys to partake in inappropriate activities. This came after Jerry admitted to FBI agents that he groomed a young boy to send him child sexual abuse images via Snapchat from between 10 and 15 other minors.

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via Netflix

When the allegations came to light back in September 2020, Monica said she was “shattered” by the news, adding that “our children must be protected from abuse and exploitation, and I’m praying hard for the victims and everyone affected.”

The second season of the Netflix documentary – which followed a cast of characters attending the Corsicana community college for the elite cheerleading programme Monica was praised for pioneering and leading – went on to explore how cheerleading was a perfect sport for abusers to hide. This was largely due to the lack of safeguarding checks on coaches, medical professionals and other adults in the sector.

While appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Monica explained how “conflicted” she was at the news, saying that she couldn’t “wrap” her mind around it.

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Photo credit via Cheer/Netflix and Navarro County Sheriff’s Office