Friend of S.C. church shooting suspect pleads guilty to concealment, false statement

Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY

A friend of the man charged in the fatal shooting of nine parishioners at a black Charleston, S.C., church in June pleaded guilty Friday to concealing knowledge of a felony and to making a false statement.

In this June 18, 2015, frame from video Joseph Meek, friend of Dylann Roof who is accused of killing nine black church members during Bible study on June 17, 2015, in Charleston , S.C., speaks to The Associated Press. Meek was arrested Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, more than a month after authorities told him he was under federal investigation for lying to them and failing to report a crime, an official close to the probe said.

Joseph Meek, 21, of Lexington, S.C., faces a maximum three-year sentence on the count of concealment -- known formally as misprision of felony -- and five years on the count of making a false statement, according to a statement released Friday by the Department of Justice.

Meek failed to tell authorities that he knew his friend, Dylann Roof, 22, planned to shoot people on June 17 inside the historically black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Justice Department has said.

Dylann Roof indicted on 33 federal counts

Roof is charged with nine counts of murder in South Carolina state court and with hate crimes and additional charges in federal court.

Roof's state trial will take place in 2017. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Meek told the Associated Press that in the weeks before the shooting, Roof complained to him that black people were taking over and that something needed to be done about it. Authorities, however, have said they believe Meek knew more than he was telling.