The longtime federal judge who sentenced former state Rep. RJ May III to 17 and a half years in prison on Wednesday for distribution of child sexual abuse material said the case was one of the most severe she has presided over.

May, a West Columbia Republican who represented Lexington County in the South Carolina State House of Representatives from 2020 until he resigned in 2025 after his arrest, was also ordered to pay $58,500 to the eight victims whom government officials were able to contact. Upon release, May will be under supervision for 20 years, and he will be a registered sex offender for life.

The 39-year-old, a founding member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus who pleaded guilty in September to distributing CSAM in April 2024, proposed a five-year sentence for himself. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, who has presided for over 30 years, however, imposed the 17-plus-year sentence. Prosecutors had asked for 20 years.

Investigators were able to prove that during a five-day span in April 2024, May’s Kik account, an instant messaging app that only requires a username, offering more anonymity than phone-number-based apps like WhatsApp, contained 220 videos of child sexual abuse material. They also showed he distributed videos containing such content 479 times to over 100 users during those five days. His username on Kik was “joebidennnn69.”

“The account user also communicated explicitly with other users about child sexual abuse material by sending and receiving over 1,100 messages,” a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reads.

Currie said the videos May distributed included the incest, rape, force, pain and humiliation of children.

It was in May 2024 that the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that CSAM had been uploaded through Kik from an IP address in West Columbia, according to the release. The department, through search warrants, discovered the IP address belonged to May.

“Because May was a sitting member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, the case was referred to Homeland Security Investigations,” according to the press release. “HSI executed a search warrant on May’s home in August 2024 and seized 35 electronic devices, including May’s phone. … Over the five-day period for which data was available, May distributed 220 unique videos, which he sent to 100 different users in 18 states and six countries. The videos included toddlers depicted in physical pain and extreme and humiliating sexual abuse.”

Prosecuting Attorney Elliott Daniels said May has a fixation on toddlers.

Daniels emphasized that the suffering the children in these videos face, both in the videos and long after the videos are taken, is largely due to the knowledge that people continue to watch and distribute them. Daniels read a letter submitted by a woman who was raped and abused as a child in some of the videos May shared; she fears viewers might recognize her. Simply leaving her home, among other everyday things, is a terrifying feat, as her letter expressed.

The five-day span investigators were able to prove May distributed CSAM during was likely not a one-off, according to prosecutors.

When May, handcuffed in an orange, striped jumpsuit, walked into the courtroom in Columbia on Jan. 14 shortly before 10 a.m., he gave his family a small wave. After arguments from the defense and prosecution, May’s father and sister addressed the court. His father called May a “kind, caring and helpful son.” His father also said May’s horrific crimes had put his family through hell.

“I am totally broken,” he said after explaining that he’s still trying to wrap his head around May’s actions.

Megan, May’s younger sister, told the court that her experiences with her brother while growing up were radically different compared to what he pleaded guilty to. She described him as a protective older brother in a tumultuous household in which their mother abused and neglected them.

She said therapy and Christian guidance could help him become what he once was to her.

May told the court he makes no excuse for his crimes. He also went into detail about the abuse and neglect he suffered from his mother, adding that it resulted in depression and anxiety in adulthood. He said a doctor prescribed him testosterone for a hormone imbalance contributing to his mental health issues; these injections led to an increased sex drive and a growing pornography addiction, he said, noting that he started with pornography depicting only adults.

“My brain was hijacked,” he said.

His addiction to CSAM destroyed his life and took him away from seeing his two young children grow up, May said. His wife has filed for divorce.

His attorneys echoed his loss. Public Defender Jenny Smith told the court May is treatable and that he did not use his position as a state representative to further his crimes. She said he did not abuse public trust.

Daniels, for the prosecution, said May is paying the price for perpetuating the suffering of the children in the videos he watched and distributed.

“In public, he represented more than 41,000 Lexington County residents in the legislature; in private, he abused infants, toddlers and prepubescent minors in child pornography,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.

Prosecutors said in court that May lived a double life, in that he voted in favor of bills intended to protect children while distributing videos of children being tortured. Daniels said May of all people should know better.

Videos of May having sex with young-looking women during a trip to the country of Colombia were also discovered on his devices by investigators, and while he is not facing charges related to those videos, and Currie did not consider them in her decision, May’s attorneys said the intercourse looked consensual. The prosecution disagreed. The women in those videos have not been located by investigators, and their ages are not known.

May is also facing charges of not paying income taxes amounting to over $14,600. He mentioned this in court on Wednesday, saying his failure to pay taxes, purchasing lottery tickets and viewing pornography and CSAM were part of his double life.

“Those who exploit and abuse children are among the most reprehensible offenders in our society, and today’s sentencing sends a clear message: no one is above the law, regardless of their position or title,” Kyle D. Burns, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in North Carolina and South Carolina, said in a press release. “HSI is unwavering in our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable members of our community and will relentlessly pursue anyone who preys on children. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those who commit these horrific crimes are brought to justice and held fully accountable for their actions.”

May said he plans to move to rural Virginia, where he’s from, upon release. He mentioned a desire to start a nonprofit, live on his father’s land and build a small house.

May’s former seat in the legislature has been filled. Lexington County pastor John Lastinger won with 62% of the votes cast and was sworn in on Tuesday. The Republican will hold the seat for the rest of May’s unexpired term.