Former ABC News Reporter Hit With Child Pornography Charge

The Department of Justice building in Washington on Feb. 9, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

A former investigative reporter for ABC News has been arrested and charged with transportation of child pornography.

Federal authorities found evidence that James Gordon Meek sent and received child pornography images, according to court documents unsealed on Feb. 1 after Meek’s arrest in Virginia.

The evidence included an iPhone at Meek’s home that showed the phone involved in child porn distribution through Kik, a messaging application, Tonya Sturgill Griffith, an FBI special agent, said in an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint. It also included approximately 100 images of child porn.

Meek, 53, has been charged with transportation of child pornography.

He faces at least five years, and up to 20 years, in prison if convicted.

A lawyer representing Meek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An ABC News spokesperson declined to comment.

The spokesperson said Meek left the company in April 2022 and is not employed by ABC.

Meek’s last story for the outlet was published on April 14, 2022.

Meek started working at ABC in 2013. He has also been a reporter for the New York Daily News and an adviser for a U.S. House of Representatives panel.

Meek wrote and narrated a Hulu series called “3212 Un-redacted.” The ABC documentary investigated the deaths of four U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Africa.

Tip From Dropbox

Dropbox, a company that provides people with ways to store and share images and other materials, discovered child porn in a Dropbox account on March 10, 2021, and alerted the FBI, according to the affidavit.

Dropbox said the user behind the account uploaded five videos, which the FBI later verified contained child porn.

The username associated with the account was James Meek.

IP addresses linked to the account were determined to be assigned to Meek’s address in Arlington, authorities said.

A search warrant was executed at the residence on April 27, 2022.

Meek has not spoken publicly since that date. He posted on Twitter the day of the raid.

Search Uncovers Disturbing Evidence

During the search, authorities recovered the iPhone 8, which had multiple conversations featuring a user with the name “Pawny4” engaging in sexually explicit conversations where participants “expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children,” according to charging documents. In two of the discussions, the user received and sent child porn images and videos.

Authorities found the number connected to the SIM card in the phone was the same number previously determined to be associated with Meek’s Dropbox and Gmail accounts.

The device was named “Bone Machine” and the host name was, in part, James G. Meek.

Also found on the phone: health data for Meek.

Travel records obtained in the investigation showed Meek was in North Carolina in February 2020 and the iPhone contained evidence that Meek carried the phone with him while traveling from North Carolina to Virginia, authorities said.

Kik provided data to authorities that helped them connect the iPhone to the account used to distribute the child porn.

Other Evidence

An external hard drive seized from the Arlington residence provided further evidence to bring the charges, including images showing engagement in a Telegram thread where users posted child porn, according to court documents.

An account on Omegle, another communications platform, also showed Meek conversing with minors.

Additionally, a forensic review of the iPhone was said to reveal the existence of a Snapchat account.

A second phone in the residence was connected to the account. The user had spoke with at least one minor, according to authorities, and downloaded screenshots from the conversation included nude photographs.

Law enforcement officials identified the young girl, who told them Meek and other men contacted her on Snapchat and pressured her to provide sexually explicit pictures.

An Apple laptop computer found in Meek’s living room contained another approximately 90 child porn images and videos, the criminal complaint affidavit stated, and another external hard drive contained additional materials.

The FBI was assisted by Department of Justice attorneys and the Arlington County Police Department, with the case being brought as part of an operation called Project Safe Childhood, the department said.

Pretrial Detention

In a filing after the arrest, an attorney representing Meek said that the court “must find by clear and convincing evidence that no conditions other than detention will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.”

While there “is a presumption in favor of” pretrial detention in Meek’s case, “this is a rebuttable presumption,” Eugene Gorokhov, the attorney, argued.

Gorokhov did not produce evidence in his client’s favor but was laying the groundwork for presenting to the court evidence that Meek does not pose a danger to the community.

If Gorokhov successfully makes his case, Meek could go free pending trial.

No upcoming events were listed on the court docket.

A pretrial services bond report was entered, but was sealed.