COLUMBIA, S.C. — Federal prosecutors want disgraced former GOP state Rep. RJ May to spend 20 years in prison for distributing child porn on the internet, according to filings made ahead of his Jan. 14 sentencing.

Twenty years is near the maximum May could get based on the charges against him and federal prison sentencing guidelines. The federal guidelines in May’s case call for a sentence of between about 17 years to about 22 years.

The recommendation to Judge Cameron McGowan Currie by federal prosecutors in his case was made late Friday in a 32-page sentencing memo filed in U.S. District Court in Columbia. The memo contains numerous graphic descriptions of the kind of videos and victims that May targeted for his gratification.

May, 39, is slated to be formally sentenced by Currie on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

After May finishes his prison sentence, prosecutors are requesting that he spend the rest of his life under strict supervision. He likely will not be allowed to get close to any minor children.

The sentencing memo highlights May’s hypocrisy in being a state lawmaker who crusaded against sex crimes against minors but at the same time was secretly a purveyor of graphic images of adult-on-child sex.

“May was a hub of child pornography distribution. At the same time, he was voting to criminalize and impose severe penalties for child pornography distribution,” the sentencing memo says.

“From his home and cell phone, May freely talked about the type of child abuse videos he preferred as he sent 220 unique videos to child pornographers in 18 states and six countries over a 5-day period,” the sentencing memo says.

May distributed abuse videos to users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Netherlands, Romania and Australia, the memo said.

“By distributing the files, May chose to amplify the abuse. Countless others have consumed these videos because May shared them broadly. In the process, May re-victimized the minors with each distribution, brought others deeper into child pornography, and propped up child abuse networks online. He did so despite the apparent suffering of the children in the videos,” the memo said.

The government is also requesting that May pay $73,000 in restitution to eight victims who have made themselves known. The victims are not identified.

The sentencing memo also quotes May’s own words to illustrate how he felt about what he was doing.

When one person on the internet asked May, “Do you have any age 6-12?” May responded, “Yeah. Isn’t that what I sent?”

“May talked about sexually abused elementary school-age victims as if they were something to consume, not as if they were children,” the memo said. “When another user asked if he had any child pornography depicting “anyone that (is) in high school,” May responded, “I don’t have much of that, but lots younger.”

“For May, high school was too old,” the memo said.

May also asked people on the internet for videos showing incest of parents and their young children. “Send the good stuff. Mom daughter, mom son...,” May wrote.

“May sought files showing toddler age children being sexually abused not just by any adult, but by their parents. The victims May sought out were so young they were unable to protect themselves. Some were too young to realize the abusers were hurting them,” the memo said.

“In the five-day period for which the Government recovered content, May possessed 220 unique child pornography files, which he distributed collectively 479 times. He also sent more than 1,100 messages to other child pornographers, all in a five-day period,” the memo said.

“Some videos show children in apparent physical pain, in tears, and being made to engage in sex acts with an animal. All of victims in May’s videos were too young to protect themselves, but many were old enough such that they will remember their abuse. The content May sought out, possessed, and distributed represents some of the most degrading and damaging content that comes before any court,” the memo said.

“May multiplied the abuse of his victims by distributing the files hundreds of times over,” the memo said.

“This is not a possession case. May was a prolific child pornography distributor. He sent child abuse videos to others 479 times in the five-day period for which the Government recovered content.”

The memo also contains excerpts of statements by child victims and some parents. One victim, identified as “Andy,” (not his real name), said that the abuse occurred between the age of 6 and 12, and the fact that others receive and distribute his abuse files today “is something that I think about and have to deal with every day of my life.”

“There is not one day that goes by that I don’t think, with hatred, about the sick and disgusting people who view, trade, save, and get off on my abuse when I was just a little kid and couldn’t defend myself. It is sickening,” he said.

A parent wrote, “It sickens me and hurts me to the core knowing that so many perverts are viewing my little daughter as she was ... molested and raped time and time again. I am heartbroken knowing that I couldn’t protect my daughter. This father’s heart is broken.”

The memo also outlines May’s efforts to avoid detection.

“May knew what he was doing was illegal, but that didn’t stop him ... He set up a fake name and identity — Eric Rentling — that he used for risky and illegal behavior. He traveled, communicated, and paid people using that name. He also set up accounts in fake names registered to burner e-mail accounts,” the memo said.

“As the scheme went on, he (May) moved from connecting to the internet (at) his home and cell phone connections to a VPN. And rather than using traditional platforms, he moved to end-to-end encrypted applications. He deleted applications and deleted files, so successfully that when agents extracted the device he used to traffic in child pornography, there were neither the videos nor cache files on the device.”

May’s abuse of public trust heightens the need for a stiff sentence, the memo said.

“At the same time May was operating his child pornography distribution scheme, he was also a sitting member of the S. C. House of Representatives casting votes to criminalize and severely punish child pornography distribution. In public, he represented more than 41,000 Lexington County residents in the legislature; in private, he abused infants, toddlers, and prepubescent minors in child pornography.

“Through the office he held, the public relied on May to shape law and policy related to child protection. In public, he proudly embraced that role. ’We as legislators have an obligation to ensure that our children have no harm done to them,’ ” the memo quoted May saying in January 2024.

Highlighting May’s “hypocrisy” were his votes for numerous bills that cracked down on sex crimes against children. These bills included Gavin’s Law, which established sextortion as a new criminal offense, with enhanced penalties for targeting children. The law was named after Gavin Guffey, a victim of child pornography and sextortion, who was the son of one of May’s colleagues, the memo says. Gavin’s law passed in May 2023.

“May of all people knew better. He was in a unique position to understand the harm and the consequences he would face, yet he still chose to distribute child pornography. Hundreds of times over. May’s breach carries a particular risk of undermining confidence in public institutions,” the memo said.

The memo also discusses May’s actions in the South American country of Colombia, where he encountered, shot videos and mistreated young women during sexual encounters. No charges were brought in those cases because the victims could not be found.

The memo also says that May has shown a “persistent disregard for the law” by his failure to pay South Carolina Department of Revenue state income taxes in 2022 and 2023.

“DOR also has no record of Ivory Tusk Consulting — the business May owned and operated —paying taxes in any year, despite bringing in more than $600,000 over a several year period,” the memo said.

May pleaded guilty in September to five counts of distributing child sexual abuse material. He used the pseudonym JoeBidennnn69 on the private messaging app Kik to distribute more than 200 videos of child porn. He exchanged 1,147 messages on Kik between March 30 and April 4, 2024, before deleting the app from his phone, prosecutors say.

May, a political operative, was elected to three terms in the South Carolina state House where he was a hard-line conservative member and supporter of President Donald Trump. He helped create the S.C. House Freedom Caucus, a group which has been at odds with the House GOP Caucus over whether the Republican controlled chamber is passing truly conservative legislation.

May drew the ire of Republican leadership over tactics he used, such as posting vote totals on social media, and actively running campaigns against Republican members of the chamber.

May is represented by federal public defenders Jenny Smith and Jeremy Thompson. They may file their own sentencing memo, which would likely ask for a much lower sentence.

Federal prosecutors on the case include assistant U.S. Attorneys Elliott Daniels and Scott Matthews.

“May’s breach represents a severe betrayal of the public’s trust. Unlike most defendants, May had options, influence, and authority. And with that, rather than choosing to protect children, he chose to harm them,” the memo said.

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