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Disgraced former South Carolina lawmaker Robert John “RJ” May III has entered a guilty plea to five counts of distributing child pornography, according to a plea agreement filed Friday (September 26, 2025) in U.S. District Court (.pdf).
The deal confirms that May — who represented S.C. House District 88 and previously served as vice chair of the conservative S.C. Freedom Caucus — operated at least one online alias used to distribute 250 videos of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Each count carries a statutory penalty of five to twenty years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration upon release. Guidance would call for May to serve twenty years, although he could conceivably face that length of time behind bars on each count.
The filing further noted that May “agrees to submit to a polygraph examination on the issue of assets if it is deemed necessary by the United States” — a stipulation that could draw attention to his financial disclosures.
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In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining five counts of May’s original indictment, which charged him with ten counts of distributing CSAM.
May also consented to the forfeiture of several seized electronics — including a Samsung smartphone and a Lenovo laptop — that investigators forensically linked to child pornography trafficking under his Kik alias “joebidennnn69.”
A SanDisk microSD card with an adapter was further subject to forfeiture, according to Friday’s filing.
The former lawmaker’s plea comes just days before a scheduled pretrial hearing before U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie – who had been weighing a series of handwritten motions May submitted after electing to represent himself.
As FITSNews previously reported, May dismissed his federal public defenders earlier this month and began filing motions to suppress and exclude evidence. Prosecutors pushed back against those filings during a pretrial hearing this past Wednesday.
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RELATED | POLITICAL TIES AND HARD DRIVES: THE FALL OF RJ MAY
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May’s legal battle began in earnest on June 11, 2025, when he was arrested outside his West Columbia home by a joint team of federal and state agents — exactly one year to the day after securing a decisive GOP primary win for his second term in the S.C. House.
He initially pleaded not guilty during his detention hearing and cycled through multiple defense attorneys before opting to represent himself at his trial – which had been scheduled to begin next month.
May was automatically suspended from the House of Representatives following his indictment and later resigned his District 88 seat — a resignation his Freedom Caucus colleagues deemed “long overdue.”
Five candidates have since filed to serve out the remainder of his term in a special election.
As FITSNews previously uncovered through jailhouse communications, May claimed multiple past and present Freedom Caucus members owed him thousands of dollars for work conducted through his now-defunct political consulting firm, Ivory Tusk Consulting.
His guilty plea cements not only the dramatic political downfall of a former State House firebrand, but also one of the most serious criminal convictions ever entered against a former South Carolina lawmaker.
May is scheduled to enter his guilty plea before Judge Currie on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.
A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Dynal Nolan/FITSNews)
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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5 comments
Between RJ May watching kiddy porn, Howie the election man playing with sex toys and traveling with his lover on the tax dime to the criminal sheriff Chuck Wright and all the other scum that Fits has uncovered over the past few years one would think the people would realize government is a criminal organization plum full of criminal Pieces of shit.
More Republican family values.
Wow! Sad for his wife and kids. I hope nothing nefarious occurred with their children. So, where is the Freedumb Caucus? No statement? The Pace kid and little Cromer girl must still think RJ is “UPSTANDING!” I will never forget them defending a child sex predator, nor will I forgive them. They need to RESIGN immediately and issue a personal apology to the people of this state. The state ethics commission needs to fully investigate everything about the members of the Freedumb Caucus. Who they paid. What they paid for. Who paid for their trips.
Finally, Ralph Norman owes South Carolina a personal apology for starting this crap in SC and picking May to lead it. I want to know what he contributed.
When they interviewed his young son about if dad had ever done anything strange to him, the young boy put tape over his mouth and started hitting himself, according to media reports. We are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg on this sick one.
Not a drag queen. Not trans. Looks like ol’ Hastert, or maybe the Duggar dope.