Former ABC News Producer Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges
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Former ABC News producer James Gordon Meek has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges after an FBI investigation uncovered a cache of child sexual abuse material on the national security journalist’s electronic devices.
Meek, a former staffer on the House Homeland Security Committee and producer for ABC News, resigned from his job at the news network in April 2022 following an FBI search of his Virginia home.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Meek pleaded guilty to one count each of transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Meek admitted to sending child pornography from his phone using the Kik messaging app during a trip to North and South Carolina in 2020 and possessing electronic devices containing “multiple depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop one count of distribution of child pornography against him. In an affidavit filed in January, investigators accused Meek of posing as an underage girl to solicit sexually explicit photos “from a girl who appears to be a minor” and exchanging child sexual abuse material with other pedophiles online.
In a statement following Meek’s plea, U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber said that the “case was never about the government threatening the First Amendment, because this District and the Department of Justice make every effort to protect the freedom of the press. This investigation was always about protecting children from sexual abuse.”
Meek is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29. He faces a minimum prison term of five years and a maximum of 40 years.
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