Overview

• May entered the guilty plea in federal court in Columbia on September 29, ending plans for an October 9 trial.
• Prosecutors dismissed five of the original ten charges under a plea, saying the five remaining counts reflect the worst material he shared.
• Evidence detailed IP and device logs, Kik requests for illicit content, and hundreds of unique videos, with authorities reporting 62 victims and 21 identified.
• The case began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip about the Kik alias “joebidennnn69,” which investigators linked to May’s home network and phone, with additional activity tied to “Eric Rentling.”
• He has been jailed since June and now faces 5 to 20 years per count, potential fines, supervised release, lifetime sex‑offender registration, and loss of voting, officeholding, firearm, and jury rights, with sentencing scheduled for January 14, 2026.