Prosecutors want 20-year sentence for ex-South Carolina lawmaker for
sharing child sex abuse videos
[January 14, 2026]
By JEFFREY COLLINS
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence a
former Republican South Carolina legislator to 20 years in prison for
sending hundreds of videos of children being sexually abused to people
across the country on social media as he advocated for several laws
meant to protect kids.
RJ May is asking the judge for mercy and a five-year sentence, saying he
was addicted to pornography and screens made worse by an increased sex
drive from testosterone treatments. He said he wants a chance outside
prison to be an example of how easily porn can destroy lives and
families.
Judge Cameron McGowan Currie will listen to both sides Wednesday before
handing down her decision in a federal courtroom just blocks from where
May used to be a member of the South Carolina House.
May, 39, pleaded guilty in September to what prosecutors in court papers
called a “five-day child pornography spree” in the spring of 2024.
May, who resigned earlier this year, is accused of using the screen name
“joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young
children on the Kik social media network, according to court documents
that graphically detailed the videos.
Prosecutors said May revictimized those children every time he shared a
file. They said his crime showed extra hypocrisy as he voted eight times
for laws protecting children or strengthening penalties for abusing
them.
“May operated an abusive and degrading child pornography distribution
scheme that harmed and continues to harm hundreds of children. He sought
out minors being sexually abused by their parents, and when he found
those files, he sent them to others. He chose to amplify and compound
their abuse,” prosecutors wrote in their brief asking for the 20-year
sentence.
Guidelines from federal probation officials call for a sentence between
about 17 to 22 years for May.
Defense attorneys are asking for less than that, but they did not make a
specific request in court papers. May wrote a note to the judge saying
he was sorry several times and asking for a five-year sentence, pointing
out he will never watch his son's soccer games or have tea in his home
with his daughter again.
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South Carolina Rep. RJ May, R-West Columbia, walks down the aisle of
the House on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina.
(AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins,File)
“My arrest marked the swift and total destruction of all my hopes
and dreams. Every plan has been shattered. Every worldly possession
is gone. I have been made penniless. My crimes have been published
to a global audience. I have brought shame and embarrassment to
friends and family alike. My wife has left me," May wrote.
May's request for mercy included seven letters from his relatives
detailing how May had an abusive mother but still thrived to end up
near the top of his class and earning the William Jefferson Clinton
Scholarship in 2008 to study Middle Eastern Studies at the American
University in Dubai. His father promised May could live on his
Virginia farm and work when he is released.
Prosecutors included statements from several victims detailing how
the videos keep being passed around and haunt them well into their
adulthood.
May will have to pay $72,000 in restitution to the victims, register
as a sex offender for the rest of his life and can't vote or own a
gun because he is a convicted felon.
May was in his third term in the South Carolina House and was
attacking fellow Republicans to go in a more conservative direction
before he was arrested.
“We as legislators have an obligation to insure that our children
have no harm done to them,” May said in January 2024 on the House
floor during a debate on transgender care for minors.
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