SC State Senator Pleads Guilty to Being a Kik Kreeper

The case against former South Carolina state legislator RJ May has unraveled with disturbing speed since his arrest in June 2025. What began as an investigation sparked by a tip from messaging app Kik in May 2024 has now ended with May admitting that he used the account “joebidennnn69” to send videos of CSAM on the Kik platform.

Kik is a mobile messaging app that has long carried a notorious reputation. While marketed as a free and anonymous way for young people to chat, it has become a well-documented haven for sex offenders, pedophiles, CSAM collectors, and child traffickers. Its combination of minimal identity verification, ease of creating disposable accounts, and encrypted conversations has made it especially appealing to all sorts of predators. Law enforcement agencies have repeatedly warned parents about its dangers, and it has been a frequent centerpiece in criminal investigations over the past decade.

Investigators tied the account directly to May’s home internet, cellphone, and laptop. Over just five days in late March and early April 2024, the account sent more than 1,100 messages, nearly 500 of them containing CSAM videos. Forensic work showed 220 unique videos stored within the account, including depictions of toddlers and infants. At least 21 of the 62 children identified in those files are known victims, and prosecutors emphasized that some of the fines May will face will go directly to them.

Prosecutors built their case carefully, showing how May’s devices lit up with hundreds of Kik notifications during the spree, how his laptop activity lined up with conversations, and how he installed apps like Telegram, Mega, and Session at the suggestion of other users who were also trading CSAM. His claim that no files were saved to his personal devices was brushed aside as misleading, since investigators testified it is common for such files to remain in cloud services and apps rather than on local hard drives.

May initially tried to mount a defense from his jail cell, insisting he had been hacked and claiming political enemies set him up. At one point, a defense attorney suggested someone could have accessed his home Wi-Fi because a password had been visible in the background of a Facebook photo. But prosecutors countered with concrete links, including the Kik username and related email address being present in May’s phone data.

Then came another twist. Court filings revealed that May had taken trips to Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia, in 2023 and 2024 under the alias “Eric Rentling,” as Carlos Danger had already been taken. He used that name not only for social media and travel but also to sign up for apps suggested to “joebidennnn69” by other users. Prosecutors even said they had GoPro footage of May on those trips, undermining any suggestion that Rentling was a different person. The revelation invites uncomfortable questions. Were those South American trips simply vacations, or were they part of a darker pattern? The possibility of sexual tourism cannot be ignored.

By September 26, the case had shifted dramatically. After spending months proclaiming his innocence, May agreed to plead guilty to five of the ten federal charges. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed the other five, cutting his maximum exposure in half. Each count still carries a penalty of five to twenty years in prison, along with fines up to $250,000 apiece and more than $40,000 in fees.

On September 29, May stood before U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie and entered his guilty plea. Prosecutors described the videos he admitted to sending as the worst of the worst. May, in his jail jumpsuit, showed little visible reaction as prosecutors read the descriptions aloud in court. Judge Currie reminded him that he would not be able to appeal the conviction unless he could prove prosecutorial misconduct, a change in law, or ineffective assistance of counsel. In other words, the plea is final.

Sentencing is set for January 14, 2026. May will remain in jail until then. Federal inmates cannot receive parole, though he may be released one day. If that day ever comes, he will be subject to between five years and the rest of his life on supervised release, he will have to register as a sex offender, and he will be permanently barred from voting or holding public office.

For a man who was once a rising star in South Carolina’s ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, the fall could not be more complete. His political career is finished, his freedom is gone, and his name is now permanently tied to one of the most repugnant scandals to ever emerge from the statehouse. Usually with ‘family-values’ guys like May, just about every accusation is an admission.

(Sources)