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       A former national security journalist for ABC News who was indicted on child pornography charges this year has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, a court docket indicates.

       James Gordon Meek, an Emmy-winning producer who covered wars, terrorism and major crimes, had pleaded not guilty to possessing, distributing and transporting child pornography. A brief entry on the federal court docket now says Meek, who was arrested in January, has a “change of plea hearing” scheduled for Friday before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton in Alexandria, Va. His trial had been scheduled to start next week.

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       The FBI said agents searched Meek’s apartment in Arlington last year and found explicit images and videos of minors on his electronic devices, after receiving a tip that began with the online file storage company Dropbox. A federal judge said at a hearing this year that he was concerned Meek was starting to “groom” minors he met online.

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       The docket entry does not specify what charges Meek may be pleading guilty to, and any plea agreement would not be final until a judge accepted it. Meek’s attorney and a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia declined to comment Tuesday.

       Defense attorney Eugene Gorokhov unsuccessfully argued at a hearing last month that U.S. authorities unconstitutionally seized Meek’s electronic data to build their case.

       After Hilton ruled that the search was not improper, Gorokhov wrote in a June 21 filing that “the parties have been engaged in productive discussions regarding a … conditional plea that would preserve Mr. Meek’s Fourth Amendment claims for appellate review while obviating the need for a trial.” Defendants who plead guilty typically waive their right to appeal their conviction on almost all grounds except for challenges to the court’s standing to hear the case.

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       In a legal filing, Gorokhov emphasized that “there is no allegation whatsoever that Mr. Meek had any physical contact with any minor, and … no allegation that Mr. Meek even attempted to meet a minor for improper purposes.”

       But prosecutors argued Meek posed a risk to the community.

       “A minor victim told law enforcement that the defendant pressured her to send pictures depicting sexually explicit conduct,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Zoe Bedell wrote in a filing. “Law enforcement found 11 images of this minor on the defendant’s phone, including nude images with her breasts and pubic region exposed.”

       Meek since 2013 had been a senior investigative producer for ABC News in Washington, and previously worked as an adviser for the House Homeland Security Committee, “where he advised top congressional leaders and held a top-secret clearance,” according to his attorney. He resigned from the news outlet the same month that the FBI searched his apartment.

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