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by DYLAN NOLAN
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Charleston County magistrate judge James B. “Skip” Gosnell has been federally charged with possessing child pornography, now officially referred to as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), following the execution of an early morning search warrant at his Charleston, S.C. residence by federal Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents.
Unsealed charging documents (.pdf) alleged that federal authorities received a tip from a payment processor through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline identifying approximately fifty suspicious transactions involving an account based in the United Kingdom.
According to a federal affidavit, more than one hundred users were suspected to have purchased child pornography from the vendor, whom authorities allege was tied to previous instances of producing “indecent material… (of) children on the internet using various social media and storage platforms.”
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RELATED | CHARLESTON MAGISTRATE ARRESTED BY FEDERAL AUTHORITIES
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The vendor allegedly “received thousands of pounds,” from the illicit venture.
While investigating the CyberTip, investigators reported discovering an account tied to Gosnell’s street and email addresses.
“The suspected CSAM purchaser account was identified as James Gosnell, a Charleston County Magistrate,” the complaint alleged.
Gosnell is alleged to have had documented transactions with the vendor, spending approximately $100 in two transactions with the memo note “vid.”
“On September 8, 2025, in District of South Carolina… a search warrant was obtained for information, including but not limited to, the content of messages and/or transaction comments of the suspected CSAM vendor accounts,” the complaint noted.
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According to federal prosecutors, the messages retrieved “supported the belief that transactions to the suspected CSAM vendor accounts related to the purchase of CSAM.” Gosnell is also alleged to have have been discovered transacting with a separate CSAM vendor on multiple occasions.
Federal agents reported having covertly surveilled Gosnell at his residence on August 7, 2025 in order to positively identify him.
On Tuesday morning (September 16, 2025), Gosnell’s home was searched during the service of a federal search warrant. Investigators report Gosnell immediately confessed to possessing the graphic sexual images.
“After advising Gosnell of his Miranda rights in writing and verbally, Gosnell advised that CSAM could be found on a thumb drive connected to a laptop in his front bedroom,” the federal report continued. “Gosnell believed he received the thumb drive from ‘a guy in Charleston’ he met online approximately six or seven years ago. According to Gosnell, the thumb drive contained ‘100s’ of ‘videos’ of ‘child porn,'” the complaint alleges.
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A catalog of the materials found on the drive was included in the charging document, including extremely graphic descriptions of the contents of the images and videos.
Gosnell is alleged to have recently accessed images of the genitals of children as well as adults performing sex acts on children.
Gosnell’s arrest is the second high-profile federal CSAM bust in South Carolina this year.
In June, former state representative Robert John “RJ” May III was arrested and charged with ten federal counts of distributing child sexual abuse material. The materials allegedly distributed by May were similarly horrific in nature.
May is currently representing himself as he awaits trial next month on those charges.
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THE COMPLAINT…
(U.S. Department of Justice)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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4 comments
Great another one down – now release the Epstein files!
Great another one down – now throw Biden, his son, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Maxine Waters, Schiff, Booker, The Clintons, Soros, Zuckerberg, Warren, Valerie Jarrett, Eric Holder, et al all under a prison.
How about Reggie Burgess and his BFF’ Ronald “Stunna” Smith and Jamel Foster? How are they and the rest of Reggie’s current and former NCPD cronies not behind bars? The Law Enforcement Training Counsel is absolute joke. The statute is written to protect Chiefs and Sheriff’s and provides no means for officers or deputies report or have misconduct or corruption legitimately and unbiasedly investigated.
Interesting that Fits News regularly avoids reporting on the corruption and coverups of Charleston County. Guess this story couldn’t be swept under the rug. Do better, report the ugly truth of Charleston County.