Another Republican Arrested for Distributing Child Abuse Materials

He was honored by Moms for Liberty (M4L), the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist hate group, as their 2023 Legislator of the Year and had him speak at their 2022 event on “Reclaiming Education in America.” May was just arrested this morning over nearly a dozen federal charges for distributing child sex abuse material — he has a wife and child.

The Republican member of the South Carolina House, who prosecutors say used the screen name “joebidennnn69”, has been arrested and charged with 10 counts of distributing sexual abuse material involving children.

After May’s election in 2020, he helped create the Freedom Caucus, a group of the House’s most conservative members who say mainstream House Republicans aren’t the true conservative heart of the GOP. In 2024, he compared Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care to the state paying for “lifestyles” like drug addiction.

“We as legislators have an obligation to ensure 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.

The three-term Republican exchanged 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the app Kik, according to court documents that graphically detailed the videos.

Each charge carries a five-to-20 year prison sentence upon conviction and prosecutors suggested May could spend over a decade in prison if found guilty.

The files were uploaded and downloaded using May’s home Wi-Fi network and his cellphone, prosecutors said. Some were hidden by the use of a private network but others were directly linked to his internet addresses. May is insiting someone else could have used his Wi-Fi.

At his arraignment, May’s lawyer suggested someone could have used the Wi-Fi password that was shown on a board behind a photo May’s wife may have posted online. After all, who HASN'T seen a wifi code online, figured out the address of that person's post, driven to their home, got close enough to home to pick up a wifi signal, and then used said signal to commit crimes? We've all been there, I'm sure.

Prosecutors asked that May not be given bail because he lives at home with his wife and young children, and some of the files he is accused of sharing feature children of about the same age as his.

Prosecutors said they also investigated whether May used a fake name to travel to Colombia three times after finding videos on his laptop of him allegedly having sex with three women. An agent from the Department of Homeland Security testified that the women appeared to be underage and were paid.

May also created a Facebook account with his fake name, and his internet history showed him switching between his real account and the fake one and even searching his primary opponent from the fake login.

The Freedom Caucus released a statement Wednesday night saying they kicked May out of their group after his arrest.

The House Speaker suspended May from his seat after the indictment.

As always, I'd like to remind you: Every accusation is a projection.