Former ABC News Producer to Be Detained Until Trial on Child Pornography Charges
A federal judge has revoked former ABC News producer James Gordon Meek’s bail and ordered him held until his trial on child pornography charges, according to court documents filed on Monday.
Meek was charged last week with transportation of child pornography in a lengthy criminal complaint that alleged the Emmy-winning producer had posed as a young girl online to collect child pornography and solicited explicit images from children.
Judge Lindsey R. Vaala had initially ordered Meek released before trial in a decision she called a “close call” but stayed the order following an emergency appeal from prosecutors.
In a motion objecting to Meek’s release filed last week, the government argued Meek posed too great a risk to the community and would be too difficult to monitor if he were released.
Prosecutors noted that Meek allegedly “has a troubling and extensive pattern of trafficking child pornography and engaging with minors online.” In addition to his alleged engagement with children, they alleged that Meek had accumulated child sexual abuse material for “nearly a decade” and had saved such imagery “as recently as at least January 2022” — three months before the FBI executed an April 2022 search of his Virginia home.
Defense attorneys argued that Meek had sufficient ties to the community to warrant release and emphasized his reporting “to help Gold Star families learn the truth about the deaths of their loved ones” and “time and resources” spent “helping hostages and their families.”
On Monday, Judge Vaala agreed with the government and ordered Meek emanded into federal custody pending trial.