Ex-ABC News journalist James Gordon Meek sentenced to 6 years in child pornography case

Ex-ABC News investigative journalist James Gordon Meek will serve six years in federal prison for possessing and transporting images of child sexual abuse, a judge ruled.

Meek was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in July to exchanging illicit materials — including footage showing the sexual abuse of an infant — with two other people.

“To those whose victimization I have contributed to with each click online, I beg you to forgive me,” the 53-year-old Arlington, Va. resident said in a lengthy court statement. “I am sincerely sorry for all I have done so egregiously wrong, which has caused so much harm to you.”

The FBI launched an investigation after receiving a tip from the online file-sharing platform Dropbox about child sex abuse videos in Meek’s account, according to court documents.

FBI agents then discovered dozens of child sexual abuse images and videos dating to 2014, when they searched Meek’s residence.

Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of up to 16 years for Meek’s illegal activity. Meek’s attorney, Eugene Gorokhov, requested the minimum sentence of five years, the mandatory amount for trading or sharing child pornography in Virginia.

The six-year sentence ultimately handed down by Judge Claude Hilton was recognition “that Mr. Meek’s worst moments do not define him,” Gorokhov said after the ruling.

“This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a press release Friday.

Meek worked as a producer for ABC News’ Washington bureau in 2013, covering national security issues up until his resignation in 2022.

He was also a senior counterterrorism adviser for the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, and was once employed by the Daily News.

With News Wire Services