Nationwide — James B. Gosnell, Jr., a 68-year-old judge in South Carolina, was arrested for allegedly purchasing child sexual abuse material from the UK and possessing explicit files, uncovered through online payments linked to his personal accounts.
According to Fox 8 Live, federal agents say the investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children flagged suspicious transactions. The Department of Homeland Security traced payments made in November 2024 to a UK distributor, with the account tied to Gosnell’s phone, address, and email.
Agents secured a search warrant for his home and devices. During the search, they say they found a flash drive containing multiple videos and images showing infants, toddlers, and other minors being sexually abused. Gosnell now faces federal charges of possessing child sexual abuse material.
Following his arrest, the South Carolina Supreme Court immediately suspended him. In its order, the court said Gosnell’s continued service as a magistrate judge in Charleston County “poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public and the administration of justice.” All access to court records, accounts, and devices connected to his role was cut off.
Gosnell is widely remembered for his role in the 2015 bond hearing of Dylann Roof, the white supremacist later convicted of murdering nine Black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church. During that hearing, Gosnell asked for sympathy for Roof’s relatives, saying there were “victims on this young man’s side of the family,” a remark that drew outrage from many in Charleston’s Black community.
Years earlier, in 2003, Gosnell was publicly reprimanded by the South Carolina Supreme Court after he used the n-word in court. At a bond reduction hearing for a Black defendant, Gosnell said, “There are four kinds of people in this world — black people, white people, rednecks and n—–.” He defended the comment at the time by claiming he meant to shock the defendant into changing course.