XPost: alt.fan.states.south-carolina, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: sac.politics, alt.abuse.offender
https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/crime/rj-may-indicted-child-sex-abuse- charges/101-efde3537-a769-4b33-8343-249c9b72218c
LEXINGTON, S.C. — South Carolina State Rep. Robert John "R.J." May III
appeared before a federal court judge in Columbia, Thursday and was
ordered to remain in detention until a court date could be set on charges pending from an investigation involving child sexual abuse material.
May, 38, is facing a 10-count indictment for distributing child sexual
abuse material, handed down by a federal grand jury convened in
Greenville.
U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling confirmed the indictment against the
Lexington County lawmaker Thursday morning.
Appearing in court Thursday morning, May pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors called in a special agent with the Department of Homeland
Security to testify about the investigation regarding the social media app
Kik and an account believed to belong to May, which disseminated 220
unique videos of sexual content.
In previous court documents and statements filed with the court, the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber-tip in
May 2024 from the social messaging app Kik. Kik flagged several videos
from the username “joebidennnn69” as containing child sexual abuse. Investigators were able to connect 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. Allegedly, children in the videos were as young as a toddler.
A request for detention filed by federal prosecutors goes into more detail about the allegations. They claim the first message of sexual abuse
material was transmitted on March 31, 2024. Once the cyber tip regarding
this activity came in May, the Lexington County Sheriff's Department was assigned by the South Carolina Attorney General's office to investigate.
On June 27, 2024, the Sheriff's Department got a search warrant for the contents of the Kik account. Kik provided investigators with the
subscriber information on July 12. Investigators said that between March
30, 2024, and April 4, 2024, the Kik account sent or received
approximately 1,147 messages with other Kik users, some of which discussed trading child sexual abuse materials with other users.
Investigators determined that the activity on the account dates back to
May, either at his home or on his cell phone.
On August 5, 2024, authorities executed a search warrant on May's home and began analyzing its contents. Prosecutors said they found evidence of an
email address linked to the Kik account. The documents also said the Kik account, a Telegram account, and a Mega account were all deleted on April
4 within seconds of each other. Prosecutors claim May discussed using
Telegram and Mega in his messages on Kik.
The 10 videos the grand jury indicted May for show extremely graphic
depictions of sex acts involving minors, based on verbal descriptions
included by prosecutors in documents online.
The documents say May was messaging users on Kik while going back and
forth with the normal routine work of his daily life, including politics
and communicating with his family. Prosecutors said they feel that proves
it was May, not someone else, searching for this material.
Documents show that a grand jury formally indicted May on June 10. May was arrested on Wednesday and booked at the Lexington County Detention Center.
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.
Following his indictment, South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith
suspended May from office without pay. The suspension remains in effect
until the indictments are resolved. If he were found guilty, the seat
would be declared vacant.
https://www.scribd.com/document/875188826/SC-Rep-RJ-May-suspension- letter#download&from_embed
May had been the vice chair of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus until mid-2024. After his arrest on June 11, the group posted a statement on
social media calling for his immediate resignation from the S.C. House.
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.
May has represented House District 88 in Lexington County since 2021. May
was reelected in November 2024 after facing no opposition in the general election.
--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.
Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)