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For some reality stars, life was not at all like a TV show when they found themselves in legal trouble.
From “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” Jen Shah’s involvement in a telemarketing scheme, to “Chrisley Knows Best” stars sentenced for tax evasion and bank fraud, TV personalities have gone from TV screens to behind bars.
Here’s a list of reality stars who are serving time in prison and the crimes in which they were convicted.
From Netflix to prison.‘Cheer’ star Jerry Harris sentenced to 12 years for sex crimes
Julie and Todd Chrisley from USA Network’s ‘Chrisley Knows Best’
It’s been almost two years since Julie and Todd Chrisley began their prison sentences for bank fraud. But instead of the respective seven- and 12-year sentences, each has had their prison time slightly reduced.
The Chrisleys, who portrayed themselves as real estate tycoons, gained fame with their USA Network reality show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tight-knit, boisterous family and the Chrisleys’ lavish lifestyle in Atlanta and Nashville. The show drew in more than 2 million viewers by its eighth season and inspired spin-offs such as “Growing Up Chrisley” and “According to Chrisley.”
In June 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley were found guilty of tax evasion and defrauding community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans.
In January 2023, the Chrisleys traded their luxurious lifestyle for prison time. Prosecutors said the reality TV couple was driven by greed as they engaged in an extensive bank fraud scheme and then hid their wealth from tax authorities.
Julie Chrisley was serving her prison sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, though, according to a Bureau of Prisons record search on Sept. 22, 2024, Julie Chrisley was shown as “not in BOP custody,” with a release date of April 22, 2028. The BOP site is a record locator for inmates and does not explain what “not in BOP custody” means. However, the site notes that a pretrial inmate may have been removed from custody by the U.S. Marshals Service “and subsequently released by the court with no further notice to the BOP.” The 51-year-old Julie Chrisley was scheduled for a resentencing hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.
Her husband Todd Chrisley is serving time at FPC Pensacola, described on its site as a “minimum security federal prison camp.” A Sept. 22, 2024, check online shows Todd Chrisley will be released July 26, 2032, more than two years earlier than his original 12-year sentence.
Josh Duggar of TLC Network’s ’19 Kids and Counting’
Josh Duggar rose to fame in TLC’s hit show “19 Kids and Counting.” In May 2022, the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar was sentenced to 12 years in prison for downloading and possessing child pornography.
A father of seven himself, Josh Duggar was found guilty in December 2021. According to a USA TODAY story, federal authorities said they began investigating the reality TV star after a Little Rock, Arkansas, police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. A federal agent testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 on to a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.
“19 Kids and Counting” chronicled the lives of the Duggars. The series was canceled in 2015 following revelations that Josh Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter when he was a young teen. At that time, he admitted to a porn addiction and cheating on his wife, and apologized.
The series inspired a TLC spinoff, “Counting On,” from the perspective of Josh Duggar’s sisters and their young families, but that show was canceled in June 2021 following Josh Duggar’s arrest.
Jerry Harris of Netflix show ‘Cheer’
In 2020, Jerry Harris gained fame for the Netflix docuseries “Cheer.” That same year, the competitive cheerleading coach was featured on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and attended Vanity Fair’s Oscar party.
In September 2020, authorities charged Harris with producing child pornography. According to USA TODAY, fFederal court records show Harris admitted he solicited and received explicit messages on Snapchat from at least 10 to 15 individuals he knew were minors; had sex with a 15-year-old boy at a cheerleading competition in 2019; and paid a 17-year-old money in exchange for nude photos.
Season two of the hit Netflix show addressed Harris’ downfall.
Harris pleaded guilty in February 2022. In July 2022, Harris was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for soliciting sex from minors and pressuring young boys to send him nude photos and videos.
Like “Chrisley Knows Best” star Julie Chrisley, Jerry Harris reported to FMC Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky, for his prison sentence.
Downfall of a Netflix star.How one season of ‘Cheer’ addressed child pornography charges against Jerry Harris
Jen Shah of Bravo’s ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’
In January 2024, Jen Shah, one of the stars of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” on Bravo, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing.
Judge Sidney H. Stein ruled the Bravo celebrity would spend 78 months behind bars, despite prosecutors’ suggested sentence of 120 months, for fraud conspiracy after she admitted to participating in a nationwide telemarketing scheme. That’s in addition to five years of supervision after her release. Shah also agreed to forfeit $6.5 million and to pay $9.5 million in restitution as part of her plea agreement.
Shah was ordered to begin her sentence Feb. 17, 2024.
Her arrest was partially captured by Bravo’s cameras.
The 50-year-old reality TV star is serving time at FPC Bryan in Bryan, Texas, a “minimum security federal prison camp,” with a release date of Jan. 3, 2028, according to a Sept. 23, 2024, Federal Bureau of Prisons records check.
Charles ‘Todd’ Hill of HGTV’s ‘Flip It to Win It’
On April 16, 2024, former HGTV star Charles “Todd” Hill of Los Gatos, California, was sentenced to four years in jail and ordered to pay back close to $10 million for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims, according to a news release from the County of Santa Clara (California) Office of the District Attorney.
The “Flip It to Win It” star on the home and garden television network was convicted in 2023 of multiple fraud schemes. In “Flip It to Win It,” Hill would buy dilapidated homes, fix them up and sell them for a profit. Instead, “Hill spent millions on overbudget remodels, laundered profits and pocketed millions in fraudulently obtained money,” the news release states.
Hill was indicted in November 2019, then convicted by plea on Sept. 27, 2023, of grand theft against all victims. He was ordered to pay back $9,402,678 in restitution and serve 10 years on probation.
Brittish Williams of VH1’s ‘Basketball Wives’
On Oct. 24, 2023, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey sentenced former “Basketball Wives” star Brittish Cierrah Williams, then 33, to four years in prison for committing $564,000 worth of frauds, including tax frauds, bank fraud, insurance fraud and three separate pandemic fraud schemes, according to a release from the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
In May 2023, Williams, then 33 and a radio personality in St. Louis, pleaded guilty to 15 felonies. Williams also will be on supervised release for five years after serving time, and Autrey ordered her to pay $564,069 in restitution.
The 34-year-old former “Basketball Wives” star is an inmate of FCI Waseca, “a low security federal correctional institution,” with a release date of April 18, 2027, according to a BOP records check.
Contributing: Amy Haneline, Maria Puente, Elise Brisco, Marisa Kwiatkowski and Tricia L. Nadolny, USA TODAY
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
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