Feds hit former ABC News producer with child porn charges, disturbing details revealed in court docs

A former ABC News producer was hit with child porn charges. Federal prosecutors accuse James Gordon Meek of engaging in sexually graphic conversations about raping toddlers, sharing sexual videos and images of children as young as babies, and attempting to pressure minors into sending him explicit photos.

Meek, 53, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with transportation of child pornography. Meek received and shared images of child sexual abuse dating back to 2014, according to prosecutors.

A tip was sent to the FBI Washington Field Office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force by Dropbox, according to court documents. The cloud storage company reportedly informed authorities about five videos of child sexual exploitation on a Dropbox account.

On April 27, 2022, federal agents raided Meek's home in Arlington, Virginia. Meek abruptly resigned from ABC News on the same day as the raid.

A trove of child porn videos and images were discovered on Meek's iPhone, an external hard drive, and a laptop, according to the complaint.

"According to court documents, several of Meek’s devices allegedly contained images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and multiple chat conversations with users engaged in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children," the Department of Defense said in a statement.

The disturbing affidavit reads, "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. In two of those conversations, Pawny4 received and distributed child pornography image and video files through Kik, an internet-based messaging platform."

According to the affidavit, the Pawny4 account asked a 25-year-old male: "Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It’s amazing."

Prosecutors claim Meek had a Snapchat account that was used to communicate with underage girls. Meek attempted to pressure young girls into sending him sexually explicit photos, according to the affidavit.

Federal agents interviewed a minor who was approached by Meek on Snapchat. The girl "confirmed that Meek and other men had approached her through Snapchat and had pressured her to provide pictures depicting sexually explicit conduct."

Meek sent photos of his penis to minors, according to the complaint.

Meek had worked for ABC News since 2013. Meek won an Emmy Award and was nominated three other times. He was a senior counterterrorism advisor and investigator for the House Committee on Homeland Security.

A spokesperson for ABC News declined to comment on the accusations about the former employee.

Meek faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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