Ex-SC Rep. RJ May sentenced to federal prison on child sex abuse material charges

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Former South Carolina state lawmaker RJ May was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison Wednesday on charges linked to child sexual abuse material.

Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who oversaw May’s sentencing, said that the abuse in this case was “more severe” than any other she has seen and that May “claimed to be an advocate for children at the State House but was their abuser behind closed doors.”

May, a Republican who represented part of Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives, pleaded guilty to five counts of distributing child sexual abuse material.

The federal government recommended a 20-year prison sentence. May, meanwhile, argued for a shorter stint in prison before serving the rest of his sentence on house arrest, working on his family’s Virginia farm.

While Currie’s sentence is slightly less than what federal prosecutors want, it is far more than the five years that May had requested.

May will also be required to register as a sex offender for life and is subject to 20 years of court supervision upon his release.

Because he is a convicted felon, he loses several other freedoms, including the right to vote and the right to own a firearm.

During the sentencing today, May addressed the court and expressed remorse for his actions and apologized to his victims. He also said that it “took him 40 years to build a life he was proud of and he destroyed it in an instant.”

Several people wrote letters in support of May, including his sister, stepmother, father and fellow Midlands state lawmaker Ryan McCabe.

U.S. District Attorney Lance Crick said at a press conference Wednesday that May’s sentencing proves that no one is above the law.

“This sentence, this prosecution, this investigation, clearly underscores that nobody, no one is above the law... We don’t care if you’re a lawmaker, a judge, police chief, firefighter. If you exploit children, we’re going to prosecute you in federal court,” Crick said.

CASE BACKGROUND

After being arrested and indicted in June, May originally planned to represent himself in court despite not having a law degree. His earlier attorney had suggested May was framed by his political enemies. He pleaded guilty in September, with federal prosecutors dropping five other charges as part of an agreement.

May was suspended from his elected office right after he was indicted, and resigned from his seat nearly two months later.

He had admitted that while he was a sitting state lawmaker, he knowingly sent videos containing child sex abuse material to other users of the online app Kik in April of last year and that he used aliases, including “joebidennnn69,” to do it.

Prosecutors claimed May actually sent nearly 500 explicit videos over a five-day period from late March to early April of 2024, but the five to which he has now pleaded guilty are among the most heinous and disturbing.

The explicit videos were shared with users in 18 states and six countries.

Investigators said they did not find any child sex abuse material on May’s devices, including his phones, laptop and hard drives. According to a memo filed by federal prosecutors, Kik compiled data from May’s account in July 2024, with content containing 265 videos depicting child sexual abuse material. The data also showed May’s account sent or received nearly 1,150 messages with other Kik users over the five-day period his account existed, with some discussing trading child sexual abuse material.

Kik’s data also included IP addresses from each message that was sent, with May’s account being used at his home’s Wi-Fi network 958 times.

Documents also stated that a forensic analysis of May’s phone showed he deleted Kik as well as other apps, Telegram, Mega and Loki Messenger, within seconds of each other in April 2024. It also showed May used Kik to discuss the use of Telegram and Loki, which prosecutors noted “both of which are applications that have frequently been used by individuals engaged in CSAM activity due to their encryption and foreign ownership.”

The memo stated May’s Mega account was registered to the name “Eric Rentling,” which was an alias he used to create a Facebook account in that name. Investigators found the photo associated with the Facebook account “appears to be a picture of the back of May’s head.”

May later admitted to using the “Eric Rentling” alias.

Investigators also found the Eric Rentling account had conversations in Spanish with women from Colombia that “consisted largely of arranging ‘meet up’ dates, time, price negotiations and rules regarding the videoing of sexual encounters, all of which are indicative of sex work.” May would also allegedly conduct Facebook searches on South Carolina political candidates while on the Eric Rentling account, including those of his most recent primary opponent.

The memo further stated May’s activity on Kik revealed “he has a sexual interest in children the same age as his own children” and that he has “a sexual interest in incest” between young children and their parents.

The federal government said in a filing that said that May was a “hub of child pornography distribution” and that he “showed no mercy toward the children he exploited.”

Prosecutors also said in a court filing that the videos May distributed “showed his interest in extreme forms of child pornography.”

“All of the victims in May’s videos were too young to protect themselves, but many were old enough such that they will remember their abuse. The content May sought out, possessed, and distributed represents some of the most degrading and damaging content that comes before any court,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing recommendation.

POLITICAL CAREER

May, 39, had represented part of Lexington County at the State House since 2021 before his resignation in August.

He was most recently re-elected in November 2024, about three months after federal investigators raided his home and seized nearly three dozen electronic devices, including cellphones, hard drives and thumb drives. By the election, the search of May’s property had become public knowledge.

U.S. District Attorney Elliott Daniels said in a press conference that May was elected to give a voice to the people in his district and represent their values, which he failed to do.

“District 88, 41,000 voters counted on him to represent them and their values in the State House. What he did with that is he exploited and abused children,” Daniels said.

He rose to prominence in Columbia as a founding member of the hardline conservative South Carolina Freedom Caucus, which has helped push the Republican Party in South Carolina further to the right.

May spearheaded the group’s strategy during its early years as it frequently clashed with members of the larger House Republican Caucus, serving as vice chair of the Freedom Caucus until mid-2024, when the group elected new leadership.

Republican John Lastinger was elected in December to fill May’s seat for the remainder of his term.

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