Disgraced ABC Journalist James Meek ‘knew’ age of the 16-year-old girl he pressured for nude photos

Letters between federal investigators and lawyers for James Meek, a journalist who has been arrested on charges of child pornography, have been unsealed revealing  the journalist knew the true age of the 16-year-old girl he was communicating with. 

The letters reveal the teenager informed him that she was underage yet Meek allegedly continued to send explicit messages to her.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force led the investigation and stated in an affidavit filed in February that naked photos of the teen that included her Snapchat username in the corner of the screenshots, were found on one of Meek’s phones seized during a raid on his Arlington, Virginia home.  

Although the filings do not give specific details as to how Meek and the teen first  came into contact with one another, the saved Snapchat messages provided a window for investigators as to the nature of the relationship between the two.

The Department of Justice wrote in an unsealed letter to Meek’s defense attorneys that the girl, who is referred to as IDENTIFIED MINOR 2, told investigators in a recorded interview that she shared her age with Meek when she was 16 years old.

A 16-year-old girl told investigators that journalist James Meek, 53, once an Emmy-winning producer, sent explicit messages to her despite her informing him of her age

Meek pictured in a photo from his Twitter account- which is no longer active 

 It not known how long the pair had been communicating with one another before she allegedly informed Meek of her age.

According to the FBI, the girl claimed that she felt ‘pressured’ by an account believed to belong to Meek and other men to send sexually explicit photos.

Several of Meek’s devices allegedly contained images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and multiple chat conversations with users engaged in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children, according to the DOJ. 

Following the raid, the department obtained a search warrant for Meek’s iCloud which contained backups of two of his devices and included a screenshot of one of the explicit discussions, according to the Daily Beast.

Authorities also uncovered an Apple laptop that contained ‘approximately 90 images and videos of child pornography.’

Meek built his reputation at the New York Daily News, where his five-year investigation forced military brass to admit that Army Private First Class David Sharrett II was shot by his own commanding officer

Naked and partially naked photos of the teen, included her Snapchat username in the corner of the screenshots, were discovered during a raid of Meek’s home. Meek was a 2022 Foley Freedom Awardees

Meek is a former investigative producer for ABC News. Meek had been known for his trailblazing journalism, which has exposed shocking military cover-ups, friendly fire deaths, and foiled terror plots.

He now stands accused of sharing extremely graphic child abuse fantasies and exchanging images and videos of such abuses with users on the messaging app Kik. 

The FBI states that they also found numerous amounts of child pornography on a laptop, external hard drive, and multiple iPhones sized during a raid on Meek’s home. Shortly after the bust, he abruptly resigned from ABC News.  

The FBI also uncovered screenshots of a Telegram group chat that appeared to center around child sexual abuse, explicit photos of Meek shared with minors on Snapchat and Instagram, and Instagram messages in which he allegedly impersonated a minor.

The unsealed letters between the DOJ and defense attorneys provide the first glimpse into Meek’s impending legal battle. 

If convicted of charges of transporting images of child sexual abuse, the 53-year-old could faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years. 

Meek, 53, has been keeping a low profile since an FBI raid at his Siena Park apartment in Arlington, Virginia last April

The filings do not detail how Meek and the teen came into contact or the extent of their relationship, but saved Snapchat messages between the two were allegedly found

Meek’s defense attorneys have accused the DOJ of not sharing all of the evidence to which they are entitled and have demanded the feds provide additional details on what tipped them off into investigating Meek.

The defense have also requested extensive documents, including copies of everything seized from Meek’s home together with all communication between the FBI and police in Virginia.

In response, the DOJ say they have provided all the materials they are legally required to provide which in turn has revealed some previously unreported details about the case. 

The feds stated 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 that they did not have to disclose what information led them to look at Meek’s private Dropbox account in the first place.

Meek’s predatory behavior was first exposed when Dropbox alerted authorities to child porn stored in his account in March 2021. 

The Dropbox is  where sexually explicit material involving a minor was allegedly first discovered.

Meek’s apartment building, where he lived until April 2022 in Arlington, Virginia

The unsealed letters reveal that defense attorneys and the DOJ have disagreed about various aspects of the case. 

Meek’s lawyers contend prosecutors lied during a detention hearing when they opposed Meek’s pretrial release, alleging that he said his ‘life was over’ as his home was being raided.  

His attorneys wrote, ‘Mr. Meek never said any such thing.’ The feds have denied lying about the comment.

The defense and DOJ also disagree on whether the DOJ is required to 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 being investigated for having child pornography on a laptop. 

‘Illegal press leaks by members of the DOJ or FBI call into question the good faith and integrity of the government’s investigation and prosecution,’ defense attorneys wrote.

The feds fired back: ‘The government has no materials responsive to any of its discovery obligations in this case to disclose related to this topic.’

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk