CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The Charleston County magistrate judge who is facing charges in connection with sexually explicit images of children has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
James B. Gosnell Jr., 68, faces charges of possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the United States Department of Justice.
He was scheduled to appear on Monday to determine whether a judge would grant him bond. But that hearing lasted only about five minutes and Gosnell’s attorney, Lionel Lofton, asked the court for two more days to prepare for a preliminary hearing.
Court documents state Gosnell has now waived that hearing, which means he will continue to be held in jail for now.
It was not immediately clear when he will next be expected in court.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains details of alleged crimes involving child sexual abuse that readers may find extremely disturbing. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Just ahead of Monday’s scheduled detention hearing, federal prosecutors filed a detailed 18-page motion opposing Gosnell’s release on bond. That filing included allegations that Gosnell not only possessed a USB flash drive with hundreds of videos of child sex abuse material, but that investigators found records of Gosnell communicating with a man “with a shared interest in pedophilia,” describing “unimaginably explicit conversations” that suggested romantic involvement between the two and that “their romantic interests involved abusing children together.”
Prosecutors alleged that one conversation suggested Gosnell planned to visit the man in Florida, where the two planned to “jointly rape and torture” the infant son of a family member of the other man.
The filing also states that Gosnell’s conversations on the app Telegram “reveal numerous instances in which he raped and abused children.”
Prosecutors also alleged conversations that revealed that Gosnell described traveling to Puerto Vallerta to have sex with a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old and that other international travel was made for the purpose of engaging in sex with children.
Feds ask public to come forward to help them identify possible child victims
Investigators with Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office want anyone who has a child or knows of a child who was ever alone with or even held by Gosnell to notify them via email at Charleston_exploitationtips@hsi.dhs.gov.
“To the parents of the community, our investigation has revealed that Gosnell claims to have to abused very young children,” U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Bryan Stirling said. “If you have left your children alone with Gosnell, or even let him hold your child, please email the tip line.”
Stirling said Gosnell was appointed to a position of trust to protect the community from “the criminals against us.”
“He is alleged to have abused the most vulnerable of us – infants and toddlers,” Stirling said.
The South Carolina Supreme Court suspended Gosnell from his role as a Charleston County magistrate judge on Sept. 16 after he was charged with one count of possessing child sexual abuse material.
The U.S. Justice Department has not specified what other charges, if any, they plan to file.
Gosnell was the judge who presided over the bond hearing of convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof the day after the killing of nine parishioners of Mother Emanuel AME Church in June of 2015.
Gosnell garnered criticism when he made a personal statement from the bench in front of the relatives of the nine victims who attended Roof’s bond hearing to say that there were victims on “both sides,” meaning Roof’s family.
“Nobody would have ever thrown them into the whirlwind of events that they have been thrown into,” he said. “We must find it in our heart at some point in time, not only to help those that are victims, but to help his family as well.”
Days later, on June 24, 2015, then-South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal signed an order replacing Gosnell as chief magistrate.
Terms of chief magistrates run for six months and Gosnell’s had been set to expire just six days later, South Carolina Supreme Court Clerk of Court spokesperson Rosalyn Frierson said at the time, adding that it is “not uncommon” for a magistrate to be replaced before his or her term has ended.