SC Rep. RJ May accused of distributing child sexual abuse material
ANOTHER gop / greed over people-republican party government official, one who backed drag show and trans healthcare bans in South Carolina, has been arrested on child porn charges. It is no longer surprising when one of them is arrested for this but it is still disgusting. You know he is a drumpf / trump-vance magat cultist...From PBS and the US Attorney's Office, District South Carolina.....
South Carolina lawmaker in jail on child sex abuse material charges resigns from office
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina Republican lawmaker in jail awaiting trial on charges he distributed sexual abuse material involving children has resigned his seat in the state House.
RJ May’s resignation letter was dated Thursday but didn’t arrive at the offices of House leadership until Monday morning.
May wrote that “it is in the best interests of my family and constituents to resign immediately.” It does not mention the 10 charges he faces or the more than a decade in prison that prosecutors have suggested May could face if convicted.
The return address on the letter was May’s Lexington post office box. He is currently being held at the Edgefield County jail without bond as he awaits trial as soon as next month.
May’s federal public defender did not respond to an email Monday.
The three-term Republican is accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network for about five days in spring 2024, according to court documents that graphically detailed the videos.
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The files were uploaded and downloaded using May’s home Wi-Fi network and his cellphone, prosecutors said. Some were hidden by the use of a private network but others were directly linked to his internet addresses.
At his arraignment, May’s lawyer suggested someone could have used the Wi-Fi password that was shown on a board behind a photo May’s wife may have posted online.
Each of the 10 charges carries a five-to-20-year prison sentence upon conviction.
Calls for May’s resignation were nearly unanimous in the South Carolina House, including members who were most closely aligned with May as he helped found the Freedom Caucus of the chamber’s most conservative members. The House Ethics Committee last month started an investigation that appeared to be the first step in trying to kick May out of the House.
May worked as a political consultant. He was elected in 2020 and in his five years in the House upset many mainstream Republicans as he continued to run campaigns for people looking to knock out incumbents in GOP primaries.
The timing of May’s resignation should allow his replacement to be chosen in a special election before the 2026 General Assembly session starts in January.
West Columbia Man Indicted for Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A federal grand jury in Greenville returned a 10-count indictment against Robert John May III, 38, of West Columbia, for distributing child sexual abuse material.*
According to court documents and statements made in court, in April 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber-tip from the social messaging app Kik. Kik flagged several videos from the username “joebidennnn69” as containing child sexual abuse. Investigators connected the account to the home IP address and mobile device of May and identified at least 10 videos depicting child sexual abuse that were shared from the account.
May faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison with a minimum of five years, a fine of $250,000, and a term of at least five years of supervised release to follow any term of imprisonment.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Matthews and Dean Secor are prosecuting the case with Austin M. Berry of the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section.
All charges in the indictment are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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* The term “child pornography” is currently used in federal statutes and is defined as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a person less than 18 years old. While this phrase still appears in federal law, “child sexual abuse material” is preferred, as it better reflects the abuse that is depicted in the images and videos and the resulting trauma to the child. The Associated Press Stylebook also discourages the use of the phrase “child pornography.”
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