As a parent, it can be scary to read the news and see reports of child endangerment. This is one of those stories.
James Gordon Meek is now formally facing child pornography charges 10 months after his home was raided by the FBI on April 27, 2022. Meek formerly worked as a respected investigative reporter for ABC. He previously covered the homeland security beat, such as the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. He resigned the same day his house was searched.
Meek’s arrest was announced by Kenneth A. Polite Jr., the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Jessica D. Aber, US attorney of the Eastern District of Virginia; and Wayne A. Jacobs, an FBI agent.
“Meek is charged with transportation of child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison,” the Justice Department’s statement reads.
This arrest was a joint effort by many government agencies. The case began because of a tip from a popular online cloud storage company. FBI Special Agent Tonya Sturgill Griffith revealed in an unsealed affidavit that Dropbox first alerted authorities about child porn stored in Meek’s account in March 2021.
A search warrant was obtained and executed on April 27, 2022, at Meek’s Arlington, Virginia, home. During the search, investigators looked for evidence of Dropbox’s tip. Agents seized many electronic devices, including an iPhone 8.
The iPhone contained damning evidence. “The iPhone 8 contained three chat conversations in which the username ‘Pawny4’ was engaging in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children,” Griffith explained.
That was not all the iPhone contained. Meek also sent and received pornographic images of children through the app Kik. One alleged exchange was especially unsettling.
Meek allegedly asked one fellow user on Kik, “Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It’s amazing.”
The user replied, “It’s my dream.”
As if the previous conversation was not enough, there is more. In another alleged exchange, Meek detailed his sick fantasies. He shared his dreams of “abducting, drugging, and raping” a user as a 12-year-old girl.
The affidavit also lists further evidence against Meek. This includes images and videos on Meek’s other devices. It also includes further conversations with minors on messaging platforms such as Omegle.
At this time, Meek has not made a public comment about these charges. Since the raid on his house, he has kept a low profile. His former colleagues claim he “fell off the face of the Earth.”
