Another former ABC reporter hit with ugly scandal — this time, it’s a federal child pornography charge

When it comes to hiring news reporters, ABC News is either the unluckiest network on the air, or the Disney-owned outlet really digs dishonest, immoral employees with truly terrible judgment.

The latest former ABC News reporter to generate headlines for all the wrong reasons is James Gordon Meek, who, nearly 10 months after the FBI raided his home and seized, among other electronic devices, his laptop, was arrested and charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with transportation of child pornography, according to a statement on Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

“According to court documents, the investigation into James Gordon Meek, 53, of Arlington, was initiated from an investigative lead sent by Dropbox and ultimately received by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force,” the DOJ revealed. “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.”

FBI Special Agent Tonya Sturgill Griffith stated in an affidavit unsealed on Wednesday that Meek was alone at his home when the search warrant was executed and “several electronic devices were collected from the residence and subsequently searched.”

Among the devices seized was an iPhone 8 which Griffith said contained disturbing chats.

“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,” Griffith wrote.

“Forensic review of the iPhone 8 showed that between February 26, 2020, and February 27, 2020, Pawny4 and USERNAME 2 exchanged child pornography and messaged on Kik about their mutual interest in the sexual exploitation of children,” she continues, referring to a messaging app.

“Love kids?” Pawny4 asked, to which the unidentified user replied, “Yesss,” adding, complete with spelling and punctuation errors, “mmmm im glad I found someone likeminded.”

In one exchange, Username 2 allegedly told Meek, as Pawny4, “Id [sic] give anything to rape toddlers with you.”

The alleged response from Meek is literally stomach-turning.

*WARNING: Extremely graphic content*

Writes Griffith:

Pawny4 responded “I think I’m in love with you” and sent a video that was 1 minute and 14 seconds in length depicting an erect penis penetrating the anus of a female infant. Throughout the duration of the video, the infant can be heard loudly crying and screaming. The man continues to rape the infant despite her screams and becomes more forcible in the penetration of her anus as the video progresses.

 

The conversation that reportedly followed is too depraved to repeat, but in another exchange with an unidentified user, Meek, 53, is accused of asking, “Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It’s amazing.”

“itsmy [sic] dream,” the user allegedly shot back.

“If convicted,” the DOJ writes of Meek, “he faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.”

The accused predator “resigned abruptly from the network after the raid last spring,” the New York Post reports, but prior to that, he “enjoyed an international reputation as an award-winning national security journalist.”

He even served, starting in 2011, “as a senior counterterrorism advisor and investigator for the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security,” The Post reveals. “While with the committee, he played a role in key probes into major terrorist acts, including the Boston Marathon Bombing.”

After the raid, according to ABC News employees, he “fell off the face of the Earth.”

Meanwhile, in December, it was learned that now-fired ABC “Good Morning America” freelance producer Kristen Hentschel reportedly lined her pocketbook by drumming up fake hit pieces against local Florida politicians at the behest of Matrix LLC, a political consulting firm that “been accused of trying to influence ballot initiatives, running ghost candidates, and other shady dealings,” BizPac Review reported at the time.

And on Friday, ABC announced it had fired GMA3 co-hosts T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach following word in late fall that the duo was carrying on an extramarital affair — an affair that the two continued to flaunt after the news broke.

 

“In addition to at least three other affairs Holmes was accused of having with employees of the network, Robach was facing allegations of drinking on the clock, which she adamantly denied,” American Wire reported.

“My suspicion is, they were in a position where, ‘What are you gonna do? You’re gonna fire the black anchor and you’re gonna let the white female stay?'” stated radio show host Megyn Kelly. “That can’t happen.”

“She had to go too even though that investigation appears to have only found her prior sins as being, she had a bottle of liquor, sealed, in her office and somebody claimed she showed up drunk after some sporting event on the air, which I don’t believe either,” Kelly continued. “But I bet if you cast a wide net, you could find 10 people who showed up drunk on the air at ABC at one point or another.”

Melissa Fine

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles