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A suspended Charleston County magistrate and an unnamed co-conspirator have been indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts related to child pornography, according to a filing unsealed on Tuesday (October 21, 2025) by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
James B. “Skip” Gosnell, who had served as a Charleston County magistrate for nearly three decades, was arrested and suspended from office last month after federal agents executed a search warrant at his home — during which he allegedly admitted to possessing child pornography.
The latest filing in his exceedingly graphic and depraved case (.pdf) revealed Gosnell was formally charged by a federal grand jury with one count of possession, one count of distribution, one count of attempting to receive, one count of conspiracy to receive and two counts of receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
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In addition, Tuesday’s unsealing revealed a redacted co-conspirator who was likewise charged with one count of conspiracy to receive and distribute and three counts of distributing child pornography.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, whose congressional district includes the area where Gosnell has served as a magistrate since the mid-1990s, said his case was a failure of the Palmetto State’s judicial system – and called on Gosnell to receive the death penalty.
“Not only are these charges horrific, they expose a deep and dangerous failure within South Carolina’s judicial system,” Mace said. “We fully support the death penalty for anyone who rapes children. No one, not even a judge, is above the law.”
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As FITSNews exclusively reported, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) descended on Gosnell’s West Ashley, S.C., home in the early morning hours of September 16, 2025 to execute a search warrant that stemmed from a cyber tip logged about nine months earlier.
According to initial charging documents (.pdf), PayPal filed a CyberTip with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, flagging transactions to roughly fifty United Kingdom–based accounts tied to a single person suspected of selling CSAM
The NCMEC CyberTip identified more than 100 suspected purchasers of CSAM, including several who had previously been arrested for possession, and noted that the alleged vendor themselves had previously been arrested by international authorities for distribution.
Of the many PayPal transactions flagged in the CyberTip, one account contained the name “James GOSNELL,” along with a primary street address, email address and phone number that investigators allegedly linked back to South Carolina’s Lowcountry, according to the filing.
Investigators further stated that the account was created the same day as an alleged transaction of about $100 for two videos, with transaction notes reading “vid,” from an IP address purportedly associated with Gosnell’s Charleston residence.
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RELATED | FEDS DETAIL SHOCKING CHARGES AGAINST S.C. JUDGE
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Following the alleged discovery of an additional PayPal account indicating that the magistrate had engaged in multiple transactions with another CSAM vendor — and after a period of covert surveillance of his home — federal agents executed a search warrant last month.
“Gosnell answered the door in response to law enforcement’s knock,” an investigator noted. “After being advised of his Miranda rights both verbally and in writing, Gosnell stated that CSAM could be found on a thumb drive connected to a laptop in his front bedroom.”
Investigators maintain Gosnell further admitted to receiving the thumb drive from “a guy in Charleston” he met online about six or seven years ago, and that it contained “hundreds” of “videos” of “child porn,” adding that it contained “everything,” including “little babies.”
In addition to the confession and flash drive — which investigators said “did” contain hundreds of CSAM videos — agents seized 13 additional flash drives, at least seven SD cards, four computers, two iPads, “miscellaneous discs and VHS tapes” as well as an iPhone.
Within hours, U.S. Magistrate Molly H. Cherry signed a warrant for Gosnell’s arrest.
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“Forensic examination of the seized electronic devices is ongoing,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling and Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Orville wrote in a subsequent motion seeking Gosnell’s detention late last month. “However, the devices that have been processed thus far have been revealing.”
According to the motion (.pdf), federal agents had already uncovered encrypted communications with a user identified as “the CSAM vendor to whom he had sent PayPal payments,” as well as with an alleged Florida pedophile — potentially the redacted co-conspirator — with whom Gosnell was “romantically involved.”
Stirling and Orville affirmed that additional messages between Gosnell and the alleged Florida pedophile contained descriptions of extreme child sexual abuse and violence, including plans by the two men to “jointly rape and torture” an infant in November, according to the motion.
Even that revelation, prosecutors suggested, represented only a fraction of the depravity discovered in Gosnell’s phone.
“Alarmingly, Gosnell’s conversations also reveal numerous instances in which he described sexually abusing children,” Stirling and Orville wrote, adding that Gosnell allegedly boasted about assaulting multiple victims ranging in age from two weeks to five years old.
“Several of these children were his neighbors,” the motion continued. “He abused at least one of them in public, surrounded by other people… His communications with other pedophiles show that his sexual appetite for this reprehensible type of CSAM is insatiable.”
Stirling and Orville added that their office possessed evidence showing Gosnell claimed to be leading online forums where he taught other pedophiles the “tricks of the trade.”
He was remanded into custody pending resolution of his case.
Gosnell is expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Cherry for an arraignment hearing on Thursday at the U.S. District Courthouse in Charleston.
Since his arrest in September, Gosnell’s record on the bench has come under increased scrutiny, with archived newspaper clippings showing criticism from fellow public officials over his apparent leniency toward defendants accused of crimes against children as early as 2004.
This story may be updated.
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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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