A Republican lawmaker from South Carolina—once a rising figure among the state’s hardline conservatives—has pleaded guilty to five counts of distributing child sexual abuse material after prosecutors revealed he used the screen name “joebidennnn69” to trade hundreds of files depicting toddlers and children engaged in sex acts.
RJ May, 38, who served in the South Carolina House of Representatives until earlier this year, entered into a plea agreement just days after a hearing where federal prosecutors laid bare their evidence. May, who has no law degree and represented himself in court, has been in jail since June after a judge denied him bond. He’s scheduled to formally change his plea in federal court on Monday.
May faces five to 20 years in federal prison for each count, must register as a sex offender, and could be fined up to $250,000, according to the plea agreement.
Court documents show that May used the Kik messaging app in spring 2024 to share and receive 220 files of child sexual abuse material over a five-day period. The files reportedly involved graphic videos of toddlers and young children in sex acts. Prosecutors detailed how May multitasked—emailing work files, making calls, conducting political work—while actively seeking out child exploitation material. They said he used Kik to request content from users with the chilling prompt: “Bad moms. Bad dads. Bad pre teens.”
During the hearing, prosecutors presented charts describing the nature of each file May allegedly distributed. He didn’t deny the contents. Instead, he tried to suppress the evidence, arguing the warrant used to search his home, laptop, and mobile devices was invalid. The judge had not yet ruled before May approached prosecutors about changing his plea.
Also contested was evidence that May had traveled to Colombia three times under an alias. On his laptop, agents found videos allegedly showing May having sex with three women who a Homeland Security agent testified appeared to be underage and had been paid. U.S. authorities have not been able to locate or identify the women.
This is the same man who once stood on the South Carolina House floor and said, “We as legislators have an obligation to insure that our children have no harm done to them,” during a January 2024 debate on transgender healthcare for minors.
May, a fervent Trump defender, was elected in 2020 and quickly carved out a space on the far-right flank of the state’s Republican Party. He co-founded the Freedom Caucus, a group that billed itself as the true conservative heart of the GOP. He also worked behind the scenes as a political consultant, helping primary challengers unseat sitting Republicans who weren’t deemed conservative enough.
That conservative image is now in ashes.
May’s use of the screen name “joebidennnn69”—equal parts absurd and grotesque—was central to how investigators tracked him. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone familiar with May’s fiercely partisan persona. He built a brand around aggressive, in-your-face conservatism, but authorities say behind closed doors, he was trading the most vile material imaginable under a parody of the name of the President he publicly despised.
There’s no question the fallout is just beginning. May’s plea removes the need for a trial, but the public reckoning—especially within South Carolina’s Republican Party—is far from over.
As of now, there has been no official comment from the Freedom Caucus or state GOP leadership.
