Former SC Rep. RJ May accepts plea deal, pleads guilty to 5 counts involving child sexual abuse material

May's sentencing is scheduled to take place on January 14th at 10 a.m. 

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Former South Carolina Representative RJ May III pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material in Matthew J. Perry Federal Courthouse on Monday.

“These actions of Richard John May are deplorable, depraved, and disgusting,” says U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling to media after Monday’s hearing.

38-year-old May was indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts of sexual abuse charges in June — changing his plea to guilty on September 26th, and confirming that plea in court on Monday.

Through the plea deal, May gives up his right to a jury trial, and prosecutors agree to drop the other five counts — reading out the first five in court in graphic detail.

The videos were described as showing adults engaging in sex acts with toddlers and children, using sex devices on children, and one clip of a child being forced to engage in beastiality.

Prosecutor Scott Matthews was asked about the seriousness of the other five charges after the hearing.

“The counts that do get dismissed are still considered and held against him, so we didn’t feel the sentence would be any substantively different whether it was five counts or 10 counts,” says Matthews.

May, a resident of West Columbia, wore an orange and white striped jump suit in court while acting as his own attorney, with two public defenders, Jenny Smith and Jeremy Thompson, there for guidance.

“We have 21 victims we were able to identify, 62 overall. Notice was sent out to those 21 victims over the weekend by the U.S . Attorney’s Office. The conduct found more than 200 unique videos, each one showing a child being sexually abused — infants, toddlers, the most vulnerable among us,” says Stirling.

Standing before Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, May admitted to knowingly distributing those videos through the Kik app in April of 2024.

Prosecutors say he used several aliases to send 1,147 messages on the app — including “joebidennnn69, and “Eric Brentley” — all traced back to his phone. He also used the gmail address “joehoe12368@gmail.com.”

That same phone was also used to continue his work as a legislator.

Stirling says officials with the Kik app sent a cyber tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in May of 2024, who then notified the SC Attorney General’s Office, and then the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department for search warrants.

A father of two children, May’s wife Beth’s phone was also searched. Prosecutors say no evidence of child pornography was found on her phone.

“This heartbreaking case is not victimless. These files are shared over and over again. Agents found may distributed videos like this more than 470 times in five days,” says Stirling.

May faces five to 20 years for each of the five counts and will also owe restitution to all victims involved. Restitution here requires that a minimum of $3,000 be paid to each victim identified.

The judge announced her sentencing for May is scheduled to take place on January 14th at 10 a.m.

He will remain in the Edgefield County Jail until his sentencing.

“It’s a priority for the Department of Justice to take down pedophiles like Robert John May,” says Stirling.

On the SC Statehouse website, May is described as being a member of the National Rifle Association, and received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina, as well as a Master’s degree from Tel Aviv University. He is also the founder of Ivory Tusk Consulting, described on its Facebook page as a full service political consulting and public relations agency.

May was in his 3rd term in the SC House when he was arrested, formally resigning in August.