Columbia, South Carolina — Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence a former Republican South Carolina lawmaker to 20 years in prison for sending Hundreds of videos From children being sexually abused to people across the country on social media where he called for several laws aimed at protecting children.
RJ Mayo He asks the judge for mercy and sentences him to five years in prison, saying he had an addiction to pornography and screens that was exacerbated by an increased sex drive caused by testosterone treatments. He said he wanted a chance outside of prison to be an example of how easily porn destroys lives and families.
Judge Cameron McGowan Currie is scheduled to hear both sides on Wednesday before issuing her decision in a federal courtroom a few blocks from where May used to be a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
May, 39, pleaded guilty last September to what prosecutors described in court papers as a “five-day child pornography spree” in the spring of 2024.
maybe, Who resigned Earlier this year, he was accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to share 220 different files of toddlers and young adults on the social media network Kik, according to court documents that graphically detail the videos.
Prosecutors said May re-victimized those children every time he shared a file. They said his crime showed further hypocrisy as he voted eight times for laws protecting children or tougher penalties for abusing them.
“May ran an abusive and degrading child pornography distribution scheme that harmed and continues to harm hundreds of children. He searched for minors who had been sexually abused by their parents, and when he found those files, he sent them to others. He chose to amplify and compound their abuse,” prosecutors wrote in their brief seeking a 20-year prison sentence.
Guidelines issued by federal probation officials call for a sentence of about 17 to 22 years for May.
Defense attorneys are asking for a lower amount than that, but did not make a specific request in court papers. May wrote a note to the judge saying he was sorry several times and asking for a five-year prison sentence, stating that he would never watch his son’s football matches or have tea at home with his daughter again.
“My arrest was the rapid and complete destruction of all my hopes and dreams,” May wrote. “All my plans were shattered. All my worldly possessions were gone. I was left penniless. My crimes were publicized to a worldwide audience. I brought shame and embarrassment to friends and family alike. My wife left me.”
May’s plea for mercy included seven letters from relatives detailing how May had an abusive mother, but he still thrived, ending up near the top of his class and receiving a William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship in 2008 to study Middle Eastern studies at the American University in Dubai. His father promised May that he would be able to live on his Virginia farm and work when he was released.
Prosecutors included statements from several victims detailing how the videos circulated and haunted them into adulthood.
May will have to pay $72,000 in restitution to the victims, register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and cannot vote or own a gun because he is a convicted felon.
May was in his third term in the South Carolina House of Representatives and had been attacking fellow Republicans for moving in a more conservative direction before his arrest.
“We as lawmakers have an obligation to make sure our children are not harmed,” May said in January 2024 on the House floor during a debate on transgender care for minors.