17:28 PST 2/6/2021
in
Sharareh Drury
The arrests of Robert Joseph Scianna Jr., 25, and Mitchell Ryan, 23, came nearly five months after Jerry Harris, also a ‘Cheer’ star, was federally accused of producing child pornography.
Two cheerleaders who appeared in the Netflix document series Cheers were arrested this week in separate criminal cases related to alleged sexual misconduct involving minors.
Robert Joseph Scianna Jr., 25, was arrested on Wednesday in Virginia and charged with crimes for taking indecent liberties with a child and using an electronic communication device to request sex, according to the Chesterfield County Police Department. The investigation indicated that Scianna met a young male through a social media platform and arranged to meet the young man for sex. Scianna is currently held in Chesterfield County jail without bail.
Mitchell Ryan, a 23-year-old member of the Navarro College cheerleading team, presented in Compliment, was arrested Wednesday in Texas by the Coppell Police Department. He was charged with aggravated sexual assault on a minor in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred in July 2020, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department records show. Ryan posted bail on Friday morning and was released, also according to records.
The Hollywood Reporter contacted Scianna Jr. and Ryan for comment.
Ryan’s lawyer, Jeremy Rosenthal, told USA Today: “This has been a nightmare for Mitch and his family. We hope that Dallas County hears the truth and this case is closed.”
These accusations come almost five months after the colleague Compliment Jerry Harris was federally accused of producing child pornography. In December, Harris was charged with seven additional counts of sex crimes involving minors. A charge made public by lawyers for two of Harris’s alleged victims, cited by the Chicago Sun-Times, said Harris was charged with seven counts of child pornography and multiple sex crimes alleging misconduct in Illinois, Florida and Texas.
The 21-year-old star of the Netflix series was originally charged with a child pornography charge, according to the Northern Illinois District Attorney’s Office. He has remained in custody since his arrest in September.
The first season of Compliment debuted last January on Netflix.