A former South Carolina GOP representative pleaded guilty this week to charges related to child sexual abuse material, according to reports. He’s not the only Republican facing fallout over sexually explicit material this week.
Robert John “RJ” May of West Columbia, S.C., was first elected to the South Carolina House in 2020 and he left office in August after winning reelection last November. Around two months before the 38-year-old stepped down, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury in Greenville, S.C. had returned a 10-count indictment against May.
“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,” said the DOJ. “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.”
Per the DOJ, the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation. As of June 12, May faced 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.
“A portion of the fine will go to children depicted in the more than 220 videos identified on the Kik account May said he operated,” to be decided by U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, said the South Carolina Daily Gazette. As of Tuesday, the outlet said investigators have identified 21 of the 62 children in the videos through other investigations, citing U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling. He explained that many of the same videos appear in multiple cases since they were being shared.
This week, the Gazette reported that May – who is married and has two young children – Monday told a federal judge he used the “joebidennnn69” account to “send videos of children being sexually abused.” It also reported that May signed a plea deal last week, more than three months after he was arrested on the charges. His Monday hearing formally changed his pleading to guilty from not guilty.
May’s plea agreement applied to five out of 10 videos he was charged for sending and prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining five charges, the Daily Gazette said. Federal inmates can’t receive parole, the outlet noted.
Stirling called the 10 videos found on the “joebidennnn69” account, “some of the most disgusting and depraved stuff I’ve ever seen or heard about.” He also said the U.S. Attorney’s Office is continuing to investigate who was running the accounts May shared videos with.
Going forward, a federal probation officer will prepare a report recommending a sentence and Currie will have the final say. May is expected to remain in the Edgefield County jail until his Jan. 14 sentencing hearing. If May does leave prison during his lifetime, he will be required to register as a sex offender and, as a felon, would not be able to hold public office. May’s trial was previously set to begin Oct. 9.
While generally not able to appeal, May might be able to if he argues that prosecutors engaged in misconduct, if the law changes in any way that would affect him, or if he claims his attorneys were ineffective, said the Gazette. After deciding to represent himself, May was recently allowed to rehire public defenders.
Now that he has vacated his seat, a special election will be held to replace May. The Gazette said five Republicans and one Democrat have filed for the race.
“The allegations against former South Carolina State Representative RJ May aren’t just vile, they’re evil,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). “His guilty plea proves it. He betrayed children, the public trust, and the most basic standards of human decency.”
In addition to May’s guilty plea, another member of the GOP made headlines last week announced he would end his campaign for governor of Wisconsin after reports related to sexually explicit material. According to CBS News, Bill Berrien, a supporter of President Donald Trump, followed many sexually explicit accounts online through his Medium page.
That’s notable since Berrien, a former NAVY SEAL and current CEO of Pindel Global Precision, ran as a supporter of “family values” and has made critical remarks regarding transgender people. Jiz Lee, a nonbinary artist Berrien followed via the Medium account, called Berrien a hypocrite in a statement, CBS said.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on his online activity and Berrien defended his actions to The Associated Press, saying the coverage was over “stupid articles I read years ago.” Even so, he said in a statement that he no longer believed he could win the Republican primary.
“Looking towards what is in the best interest of the party, voters, donors, and my family, I have decided to end my campaign,” he said.
With Berrien out of the race, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann are the only Republican candidates. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers decided against seeking a third term and several Democrats are running,