COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former Republican lawmaker in South Carolina was sentenced Wednesday to 17 1/2 years in prison for sending hundreds of videos of children being sexually abused to people across the country on social media around the same time he was advocating for laws meant to protect kids.

“He claimed to be their advocate by sponsoring bills in the legislature, but he was their abuser with videos that will live on forever,” the judge said.

RJ May had sought a shorter sentence, saying he was addicted to pornography and screens. He apologized briefly to the victims in a 15-minute statement to the court. He said he began watching adult pornography when testosterone treatments increased his sex drive, and then sought out more extreme videos when he was lonely at night.

“I was talking about moral decency by day and succumbed to moral indecency by night,” May said.

Judge Cameron McGowan Currie sentenced him in federal court just blocks from where May had served in the South Carolina House.

May, 39, resigned before pleading guilty in September for what prosecutors called a “five-day child pornography spree” in the spring of 2024. Court documents described in graphic detail how he allegedly used the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children on the Kik social media network.

Prosecutors said May sought out images of minors being sexually abused by their parents and revictimized those children every time he re-shared those files with others.

“We’re talking about toddlers being raped,” assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels said.

Federal authorities also found videos of May, recorded using a camera on top of his head, appearing to sexually abuse women in the country of Colombia. His hands were around the throat of one. Another was in tears. Agents spent a month overseas trying to find the women, who appeared underage, but couldn’t locate them, prosecutors said.

The judge considered the videos in giving May a sentence in the middle of the federal guidelines.

“We do think it shows RJ May was a hands-on abuser. We do think it shows predatory and violent physical sex. He’s not just a guy on a screen,” Daniels said.

Prosecutors said May’s crimes showed extra hypocrisy as he voted eight times for laws protecting children or strengthening penalties for abusing them.

May also wrote an apology note to the judge, in which he asked for a five-year sentence, pointing out he will never watch his son’s soccer games or have tea in his home with his daughter again. He said he lost his six-figure job as a political consultant, his wife is divorcing him, he has no money and details of his crimes have been news around the world.

“It took me nearly 40 years to build a life I’m proud of. And I destroyed it in an instant. But I can rebuild it again,” May said.