Former ABC News Reporter Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charges

A former national security analyst for ABC News is facing upwards of five years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography in federal court on Friday.

James Gordon Meek, 53, admitted to transporting and possessing child sexual abuse material. Under a plea agreement, Meek is likely to face far less than the maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars when he is sentenced on September 29.

Meek was slapped with federal charges this past February roughly 10 months after his Virginia home was raided by federal agents in April of 2022. The raid on the once highly regarded reporter quickly became the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, as Meek resigned from ABC disappeared from the public eye not long afterwards.

Upon searching his phone, law enforcement found three conversations in which Meek expressed his desire to sexually abuse children.  “Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It’s amazing,” Meek reportedly wrote in one message. In another message, the disgraced reporter detailed a fantasy of, “abducting, drugging, and raping” a 12-year-old girl.

Meek also kept images of child pornography on numerous electronic devices. Additionally, investigators uncovered evidence that he contacted minors online, according to a report from the New York Post.

The probe was launched after file-sharing company Dropbox alerted federal authorities.

Meek was hired by ABC in 2013 after previously working for the New York Daily News, where he broke a number of stories relating to national security. He also served as a senior counterterrorism advisor and investigator for the US House Committee on Homeland Security starting in 2011.