A South Carolina Republican lawmaker — who once preached about the importance of safeguarding children from unnecessary harm — is accused of distributing more than 200 files of child pornography online while using the screen name “joebidennnn69,” federal prosecutors alleged.
Robert “RJ” May, 38, a member of the House of Representatives in the Palmetto State, was arrested at his Lexington County home Wednesday on a 10-count indictment charging him with distributing child sex abuse material, court documents showed.
The married father of two used “joebidennnn69” and several other user names to exchange 220 obscene files containing extremely graphic footage of children and toddlers engaged in sex acts on the messaging app Kik over five days last spring, federal prosecutors alleged.
The three-term rep allegedly downloaded the sickening files on his home Wi-Fi network and cellphone, prosecutors said, noting that some files were hidden using a private network while others were directly linked to his personal IP address.
Lawyers for May suggested at his arraignment that someone else could have been using his WiFi password to procure and share the twisted images.
Officials launched their investigation after the social app flagged suspicious activity to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in April 2024.
Homeland Security agents searched May’s house in August 2024 and seized nearly three dozen electronic devices from his home, including a laptop, a tablet, four cell phones, four hard drives, and 19 thumbdrives, The State reported.
On one of those seized devices, May allegedly kept several videos of himself on trips to Colombia engaging in sex with three women who appeared to be underage and were paid, a DHS official testified.
Prosecutors asked that May not be given bail because his two children are the same age as those who were exploited in the illicit material.
May, first elected in 2020, founded the House Freedom Caucus in the state as part of a hard-line conservative movement that ran to the right of many Republicans, according to The State.
The House Freedom Caucus expelled May on Wednesday following his arrest with former allies now calling on him to resign from his position in the state house, that report stated.
The congressman was a vocal advocate for pet conservative causes such as protecting the family.
“We as legislators have an obligation to ensure that our children have no harm done to them,” May said in January 2024 during a debate on transgender care for minors, just months after his house was raided by feds.
He was ordered to remain in jail until his trial.
Each charge carries a five-to-20-year prison sentence.
With Post wires
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