Federal Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant at a house belonging to state Rep. Robert J. May III in Lexington County on Monday, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.
A computer was taken from the home, two sources said, but The State could not confirm who it belonged to or who was being investigated.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney Adair Boroughs of South Carolina, who oversees federal prosecutors in this state, said he could neither confirm nor deny an investigation involving May was underway. No charges have been filed against him.
May, a second-term state lawmaker and vice chairman of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, lives on Lake Frances Drive in West Columbia. He is married and has two young children, according to state records.
The State newspaper attempted to contact May numerous times this week but was unsuccessful.
The search was carried out by agents from the Homeland Security Investigations unit, a law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security, sources said. That agency conducts federal criminal investigations into the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of and through the U.S.
The agency’s investigations are “wide ranging” and include drug and weapons smuggling, cyber and financial crime and child exploitation and human trafficking, according to the agency’s web site.
A spokesman for the investigations unit confirmed its agents “conducted an enforcement action in Lexington County” last Monday but declined to reveal more information.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office played no role in the serving of the search warrant and is not involved in any related investigation, a spokesperson said.
May, 37, was elected to the S.C. House in 2020. He has been a leader of the state Freedom Caucus, a group of ultra conservative Republicans known for their unyielding positions and limited government stances.
For the past three years, Freedom Caucus members have clashed with more moderate Republicans , who the caucus accuses of not being “conservative enough.” May is viewed as an integral figure in the group and has played a central role in the group’s split with more centrist Republicans.
In 2022, the Freedom Caucus sued Lexington District 1, claiming the district violated state law by teaching critical race theory. The district denied the allegation but settled in order to avoid spending more time and effort defending it, according to the district, which later said it spent nearly $60,000 on the lawsuit.
May is the owner of a political consulting firm, Ivory Tusk Consulting.
Its clients this year, according to the S.C. Ethics Commission, include fellow representatives and Freedom Caucus members Ryan McCabe, R-Lexington, who previously represented May in a lawsuit concerning his consulting firm; John Gregory “Jay” Kilmartin, R-Lexington; Joe White, R-Newberry, and Adam Morgan, R-Greenville, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in June.
In June, May won the Republican primary in House District 88. He faces no Democratic opposition in November.
News of the search warrant’s execution was first reported by FITSNews.
Reporter Ted Clifford contributed.
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