Ex-ABC News reporter sentenced to six years for child porn

Disgraced former ABC News reporter James Gordon Meek was sentenced Friday to six years in prison after admitting to trading child pornography content.

Virginia federal judge Claude Hilton handed down the judgment that was just one year more than the minimum term Meek, 54, was seeking, prosecutors announced.

The Virginia US Attorney’s Office last week asked the judge for a much heavier penalty of between 12 1/2 years and 15 years behind bars — what federal guidelines recommended for the once-acclaimed journalist though still far below the 20-year maximum he faced.

Meanwhile, Meek sought leniency emphasizing he had taken total responsibility and had never previously been charged with another crime.

In July, the former national security reporter copped to transporting and possessing child sexual abuse materials.

In arguing for a harsh sentence, prosecutors previously said in court papers that Meek “clearly sought out individuals across the internet for the specific purpose of sharing (and expanding) his [Child Sexual Abuse Material] collection for his sexual gratification.”

Meek’s lawyer, Eugene Gorokhov, told The Post in a statement that his client was a victim of overzealous prosecution and was grateful the judge recognized that.

“The government has an important job to do in investigating and prosecuting criminal conduct,” Gorokhov said. “Occasionally, in doing so, the government also goes too far and tears down a person’s character completely. This is always devastating.”

“But the sentence in this case represents a rejection of the picture of Mr. Meek that the government tried to present,” the defense attorney said. “We are grateful to the court for taking a careful look at the facts, accurately assessing those facts, and recognizing that Mr. Meek’s worst moments do not define him.”

Meek sent and received disturbing videos and pictures of “infants and toddlers and content depicting sadistic and masochistic abuse of prepubescent children,” the feds said.

He sought out kids online — even once posing as one himself — and was part of a sick chat group called “C–ks, C–ts, and Kids,” prosecutors have said.

He lured one girl into sending him “at least a dozen screenshots” of her breasts and pubic area, and had breast photos of a 14-year-old and 15-year-old girl from chats in which he also sent videos of himself naked, holding his penis, the feds claim.

When Meek was in South Caroline in February 2020, he messaged on an online app, sending and receiving twisted materials including children under 12 getting raped, prosecutors announced Friday. Those items were on his phone and traveled back with him to Virginia, the feds claim.

On Monday, Meek’s lawyer Eugene Gorokhov argued for the minimum time behind bars, asserting his client was a doting father who had a history of good deeds, and claiming the conduct was “completely at odds with his proven personal values.”

Still, Gorokhov said his client was remorseful and wanted to accept the consequences of his actions.

The lawyer painted Meek as traumatized by his years covering war and said the toll it took came “in the form of his mental health.”

Gorokhov said it’s not an excuse, but that it helps explain Meek’s behavior.

Meek resigned from ABC News abruptly after the feds raided his Arlington, Va,.home and seized his electronics on April 27, 2022.

Not only did Meek work in journalism, he also served as a senior counterterrorism adviser and investigator for the US House Committee on Homeland Security starting in 2011.