List of politicians arrested for crimes against children

1. Known, named cases in these sources

The most concretely reported arrests in the supplied material are: South Carolina State Representative RJ May, arrested and federally charged with 10 counts of distributing child sexual abuse material, reported by The Guardian and Newsweek ^{[1] [6]}; and North Carolina State Representative Cecil Brockman, arrested on multiple charges including two counts of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory rape involving a 15‑year‑old, reported by NC Newsline ^[2]. Other entries in aggregated misconduct trackers and press releases point to additional incidents but often lack full names or context in the excerpts provided ^{[5] [4]}.

2. Aggregators and databases: breadth, not completeness

GovTrack’s misconduct database and Ballotpedia maintain lists of “noteworthy” political misconduct and misconduct data, including arrests and indictments, but they are curated and not exhaustive; Ballotpedia’s 2025–2026 page lists individuals with a range of alleged crimes and flags a 2025 indictment of a state representative on child‑sex‑related charges without producing a comprehensive national roster ^{[4] [5]}. These resources are useful starting points but should not be treated as definitive catalogs of every politician ever arrested for crimes against children ^{[4] [5]}.

3. Federal enforcement and task forces that expand the picture

The Department of Justice’s Operation Restore Justice, a nationwide five‑day enforcement effort, led to the arrest of 205 child‑sex‑abuse offenders, and the DOJ press release emphasizes that some arrested persons occupied positions of trust such as school leaders; the release demonstrates how large enforcement sweeps can intersect with people in public roles though it does not provide a list of politicians specifically named in the supplied excerpt ^[3]. Similarly, FBI violent‑crimes‑against‑children reporting and DHS/ICE press releases highlight numerous arrests for child‑sex crimes among noncitizens and other defendants, but those releases mostly focus on criminal categories rather than producing a named list of elected officials ^{[7] [8] [9]}.

4. Partisan and institutional framing to watch for

Government press releases from DHS/ICE frame arrests in terms of immigration policy and frequently emphasize the immigration status of suspects — an explicit institutional agenda that ties criminal cases to policy priorities ^{[8] [9]}. Media outlets differ in tone and emphasis: investigative outlets and local reporting dwell on criminal charges and victim details (e.g., NC Newsline on Brockman), while national summaries and aggregators present concise entries without full adjudicative context ^{[2] [5]}. Readers should note these differing impulses: law‑enforcement releases may advance policy narratives; aggregators balance currency with selectivity; local outlets prioritize prosecutorial and court details.

5. Legal status, presumption of innocence, and outcomes

The supplied sources consistently report arrests and indictments but do not uniformly provide final dispositions. For example, RJ May is reported as arrested and federally charged, and Brockman is charged and had bond hearings reported — neither source in the excerpts supplied shows final convictions or sentences ^{[1] [2]}. Where a source explicitly documents a conviction or plea, cite that directly; otherwise, available sources do not mention final verdicts for many named cases in these snippets ^{[2] [1]}.

6. How to compile a more complete, defensible list

To build a reliable list, cross‑reference: (a) local news reports and court filings for named state/local officials (as in the Brockman reporting), (b) federal press releases and U.S. Attorney announcements for indictments and arrests (as with Operation Restore Justice), and (c) vetted misconduct databases like GovTrack and Ballotpedia for corroboration and historical context ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}. The provided sources show that isolated examples are documented, but they do not constitute a single authoritative roster; available sources do not mention a comprehensive national list limited strictly to elected politicians arrested for crimes against children ^{[5] [4]}.

If you want, I can start a compiled list limited to the names and citations shown in these sources (RJ May, Cecil Brockman, Matthew A. Inman appears as a party official charged in a related case) and then expand it by searching additional local U.S. Attorney press releases and misconduct databases for 2024–2025 entries. The current reporting excerpts already cite RJ May ^[1], Cecil Brockman ^[2], and at least one party official charged in January 2025 (Matthew A. Inman) ^[10].