James Gordon Meek, a former producer who was an investigative journalist and producer with ABC News, pleaded guilty on Friday to federal charges.
According to the Department of Justice, he pleaded guilty to transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material and faces a sentence of 5-40 years. A judge will soon determine his sentence using federal guidelines.
The DOJ said Meek used his iPhone to send and receive images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The DOJ said some of the materials included children younger than 12 and an assault against an infant.
In a federal affidavit, prosecutors claimed the iPhone contained three conversations in which the "participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children."
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The girl had been abducted and forced into child pornography.
Investigators also said they found a hard drive that contained a backup of some of the explicit material.
The affidavit also alleged that a minor told investigators that Meek and other men approached her through Snapchat and "pressured her to provide pictures depicting sexually explicit conduct."
The DOJ said it received an investigative lead before executing an April 2022 raid on Meek's home.
According to an ABC News bio,Meek joined the network in 2013 after spending two decades covering national security and politics. ABC News noted that Meek served as a senior counterterrorism adviser and investigator for the House Committee on Homeland Security. According to House documents, he was listed as a "senior investigator." He was paid an annual salary of $140,000 by the House.
While working for the House, Meek handled some of the biggest threats to the U.S., including the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013.
