COLUMBIA — A state representative has been charged with distributing child sexual abuse material, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Rep. RJ May, a founding member of the state’s ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, faces 10 counts of distributing child sexual abuse material, according to a Thursday news release.
May was arrested Wednesday outside his West Columbia home and booked in the Lexington County jail, according to jail records that quickly disappeared from public view. He is set to appear in court Thursday morning.
In April 2024, social messaging app Kik flagged videos involving child sexual abuse from an account called “joebidennnn69.” Investigators identified at least 10 such videos shared through the account and tracked it to May’s house and mobile device, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal investigators seized electronics from the 38-year-old last August. Two months later, a court filing confirmed that they took a Lenovo laptop, an Amazon tablet, four cellphones, four hard drives, four SD cards, two DVD-Rs and 19 thumb drives.
May was suspended without pay from the House Thursday pending the case’s outcome, according to a letter from the House Speaker’s Office. State law requires an officeholder indicted on a felony to be suspended.
Speaker Murrell Smith declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
May also faces up to 20 years in prison, with a minimum of five years, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty.
The Freedom Caucus, which suspended May’s membership last year, called for him to resign his House seat.
May previously served as vice chairman but no longer held a leadership position after the caucus’ officer elections last July. His connections in Congress helped launch the state Freedom Caucus in 2022. He acted as de facto spokesman for the group as it battled with the main Republican Caucus until the federal investigation became public.
“These crimes are heinous and we expect that they will be fully investigated,” the Freedom Caucus statement read.
May has not been involved with Freedom Caucus activities since last August, said Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Goose Creek, the caucus’ current chairman. May attended this year’s session, he stayed quiet, not getting involved in floor debates and continuing to vote alongside the Freedom Caucus.
Originally from Virginia, May is married and has two children. He runs consulting firm Ivory Tusk Consulting.
The last legislator suspended while facing federal charges was Rep. Rick Martin in 2021. The Newberry Republican was charged with giving alcohol to a 15-year-old girl and trying to influence an investigation, which he denied at the time.
Martin lost a bid for reelection the following year, losing the primary election to Freedom Caucus member Rep. Joe White.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
US Attorney's Office statement:
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.”
