Man Pleads Guilty to Lying and Concealment in Connection with the Mother Emanuel AME Church Shooting

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles of the District of South Carolina announced today that Joseph Carlton Meek, 21, of Lexington, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with misprision of a felony and making a false statement.  Meek entered the guilty plea as a result of his actions following the June 17, 2015, attack on parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.  Meek faces a maximum of three years on the misprision count and five years on the false-statement count.  U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel of the District of South Carolina presided over the hearing and will sentence Meek at a later date.

This guilty plea is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, Charleston Police Department and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay N. Richardson and Nathan Williams of the District of South Carolina are prosecuting the case.