Federal authorities arrested former ABC News investigative journalist James Gordon Meek on criminal charges related to the alleged transportation of images of child sex abuse.
According to the DOJ, the case against Meek was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the DOJ to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
According to Fox News, the Justice Department issued a press release Wednesday that finally shed light on the mysterious raid of the journalist's home last year. (RELATED: ABC Military Journalist Reappears After Being Mysteriously Targeted by FBI)
The 15-page affidavit includes extremely disturbing details, including a video found on Meek's phone of the alleged rape of an infant.
The DOJ announced an investigation into Meek initiated from a lead sent by Dropbox, which was eventually received by the FBI Washington Field Office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.
“That lead ultimately led to a court-authorized search of Meek's residence in April 2022 by members of the task force, where law enforcement seized multiple devices that allegedly contained evidence of the transportation of images of child sexual abuse,” the Justice Department announced.
“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. In two of those conversations, a username allegedly associated with Meek received and distributed child sexual abuse materials through an internet-based messaging platform,” the DOJ continued.
Meek is charged with transportation of child pornography and faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Meek immediately resigned from the Disney-owned network following an FBI raid of his Arlington, Virginia, home last year. (RELATED: Journalist Writing About Biden's Afghan Disaster Goes Missing After FBI Raids Home)
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