Disgraced ABC Journalist James Meek ‘knew’ age of the 16-year-old girl he pressured for nude photos
Letters between federal investigators and attorneys for James Meek, a journalist arrested on child pornography charges, have been unsealed, revealing that the journalist knew the true age of the 16-year-old girl he was communicating with.
The letters reveal that the teen told him she was underage, but that Meek reportedly continued to send her explicit messages.
The FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force led the investigation and stated in an affidavit filed in February that nude photos of the teen with her Snapchat username in the corner of the screenshots were found on one of Meek’s phones found in seized during a raid on his home in Arlington, Virginia.
While the documents don’t provide specific details about how Meek and the teen first met, the saved Snapchat messages provided a window for investigators into the nature of the relationship between the two.
The Justice Department wrote in an unsealed letter to Meek’s lawyers that the girl, referred to as IDENTIFIED MINOR 2, told investigators in a taped interview that she shared her age with Meek when she was 16 years old.
A 16-year-old girl told investigators that 53-year-old journalist James Meek, once an Emmy-winning producer, had sent explicit messages to her despite informing him of her age
Meek pictured in a photo from his Twitter account, which is no longer active
It is unknown how long the couple communicated before she allegedly informed Meek of her age.
According to the FBI, the girl claimed she felt “pressured” by an account believed to belong to Meek and other men to send sexually explicit photos.
Several of Meek’s devices reportedly contained images of children engaging in sexually explicit behavior, and multiple chat conversations with users engaged in sexually explicit conversations in which the participants expressed enthusiasm for child sexual abuse, the DOJ said.
After the raid, the department obtained a search warrant for Meek’s iCloud, which contained backups of two of his devices and a screenshot of one of the explicit discussions, according to the Daily beast.
Authorities also discovered an Apple laptop containing “about 90 images and videos of child pornography.”
Meek built his reputation with the New York Daily News, where his five-year investigation forced military buyers to admit that Army Private First Class David Sharrett II was shot by his own commanding officer
Nude and partially nude photos of the teen, including her Snapchat username in the corner of the screenshots, were discovered during a raid on Meek’s home. Meek was a 2022 Foley Freedom Awardee
Meek is a former investigative producer for ABC News. Meek was known for his pioneering journalism, which exposed shocking military cover-ups, friendly-fire deaths, and foiled terror plots.
He is now accused of sharing extremely explicit fantasies about child abuse and exchanging images and videos of such abuse with users on messaging app Kik.
The FBI says they also found numerous amounts of child pornography a laptop, external hard drive and several iPhones the size of a raid on Meek’s house. Shortly after the arrest, he abruptly resigned from ABC News.
The FBI also discovered screenshots of a Telegram group chat that appeared to revolve around child sexual abuse, explicit photos of Meek shared with minors on Snapchat and Instagram, and Instagram posts in which he allegedly impersonated a minor.
The unsealed letters between the DOJ and defense attorneys provide a first glimpse of Meek’s impending legal battle.
If the 53-year-old is convicted of charges of transporting images of child sexual abuse, he could risks a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Meek, 53, has been keeping a low profile since an FBI raid on his Siena Park apartment in Arlington, Virginia last April
The documents don’t detail how Meek and the teen got in touch or the extent of their relationship, but saved Snapchat messages are said to have been found between the two
Meek’s lawyers have accused the DOJ of not sharing all of the evidence they are entitled to and have demanded the FBI provide additional details about what led them to investigate Meek.
The defense has also requested extensive documents, including copies of everything seized from Meek’s home, along with all communications between the FBI and Virginia police.
In response, the DOJ says they have provided all materials they are required by law to provide, which in turn revealed some previously unreported details about the case.
The FBI stated that they did not use undercover tactics while investigating Meek and that they had recorded interviews with “victims and potential victims in this case.”
They also claimed they were not required to reveal what information led them to look into Meek’s private Dropbox account in the first place.
Meek’s predatory behavior was first exposed when Dropbox alerted authorities to child pornography stored in his account in March 2021.
The Dropbox is where sexually explicit material involving a minor was reportedly first discovered.
Meek’s apartment building, where he lived until April 2022 in Arlington, Virginia
The unsealed letters show that defense attorneys and the DOJ disagree on several aspects of the case.
Meek’s lawyers allege prosecutors lied at a detention hearing when they opposed Meek’s provisional release, claiming he said his “life was over” when his home was raided.
His lawyers wrote: “Mr. Meek never said anything like that.’ The FBI has denied lying about the comment.
The defense and DOJ also disagree over whether the DOJ should release information about an investigation into who leaked information about the case to Rolling Stone Magazine and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who claimed in a tweet that “sources” said Meek was under investigation for having child pornography on a laptop.
“Illegal press leaks by members of the DOJ or FBI cast doubt on the good faith and integrity of the government’s investigations and prosecutions,” the defense attorneys wrote.
The FBI fired back: “The government in this case has no material responsive to its investigative obligations on this subject.”