A Republican lawmaker from South Carolina has resigned from the state House after being detained on suspicion of disseminating materials about child sexual assault.
The Associated Press reports that House leaders received the resignation letter of Representative RJ May on Monday. The letter was dated Thursday. The Lexington County Republican stated in it that it was in my family’s and my constituents’ best interests to stand down.
Prosecutors claim that over the course of five days in the spring of 2024, May, 39, used his home Wi-Fi and telephone to trade more than 200 files of youngsters performing sex acts under the screen name joebidennnn69. Since his arrest in June on ten felony charges, he has been detained without bond in the Edgefield County jail. The maximum penalty for each charge is five to twenty years in jail.
May was a founding member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and was chosen as a political consultant in 2020. Before the legislature meets again in January, a special election will be held to fill his District 88 seat as a result of his resignation.
