West Columbia Man Indicted for Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A federal grand jury in Greenville returned a 10-count indictment against Robert John May III, 38, of West Columbia, for distributing child sexual abuse material.*

According to court documents and statements made in court, in April 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber-tip from the social messaging app Kik. Kik flagged several videos from the username "joebidennnn69" as containing child sexual abuse. Investigators connected the account to the home IP address and mobile device of May and identified at least 10 videos depicting child sexual abuse that were shared from the account.

May faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison with a minimum of five years, a fine of $250,000, and a term of at least five years of supervised release to follow any term of imprisonment.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://http://www.justice.gov/psc.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Matthews and Dean Secor are prosecuting the case with Austin M. Berry of the Department of Justice's Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section.

All charges in the indictment are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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* The term "child pornography" is currently used in federal statutes and is defined as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a person less than 18 years old. While this phrase still appears in federal law, "child sexual abuse material" is preferred, as it better reflects the abuse that is depicted in the images and videos and the resulting trauma to the child. The Associated Press Stylebook also discourages the use of the phrase "child pornography."