Former Illinois State Rep. Keith Farnham, 66, was the co-sponsor of two bills to increase the punishment for child pornography may soon regret the effort. He has been charged with child pornography crimes related to hundreds of images and videos on his personal and state-owned computers as well as graphic online chats. In one such chat, he allegedly wrote that “12 is about as old as i can handle . . . i love them at 6 7 8.” In another chat, he allegedly bragged about sexually molesting a 6-year-old girl. He is not charged with that rape. In the sick and bizarre world of child porn, such a claim may have been a form of bragging than a true admission of a rape. Farnham resigned from office shortly after his state office was raided. He said that he needed to resign due to health concerns.
The indictment describes, if true, someone truly addicted to child porn. The investigative unit was given a lead that an email account kimdavid5582@yahoo.com was being used to trade child pornography on the Internet. kimdavid5582 was shown chatting with users about preferences among children. In a November conversation, Farmham describes a sexual encounter with a 6-year-old girl and a few weeks later allegedly said “I wish I had access to all the vids and pics ever made.” If the indictment is correct, he certain made progress in that goal with hundreds of such images and videos. It is surprising that a legislator who obviously knew this area was not more concerned about the well-known monitoring of these sites and sting operations.
To her credit, Democratic Rep. Mary Flowers, a longtime advocate for children, insisted: “I don’t want to cast him off as being guilty until he’s been found guilty.” That shows admirable restraint.
The combination of the files and the online chats presents a huge challenge for the defense in this case. He could easily receive the maximum of ten years given the aggravating elements of holding a position of public trust and the use of public computers. It is not clear if his medical issues will delay the trial. Farnham is being treated for bladder cancer and has pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that causes lung tissue to scar.
Farnham is a Navy veteran and a father. He ran a painting business in Elgin and is a graduate of the University of Maine.
Source: Chicago Tribune
I doubt that “Democratic Rep. Mary Flowers” would have shown such restraint had Farnham been a Republican…and also, this would be blaring 24/7 from the MSM….
guilty until proven innocent. jesus christ people – you ever think of set-ups being a possibility in this world today? I don’t know anything about this guy on a political level but it’d be very easy for governmental agencies to set-up someone on something like child porn charges. If he really did this – I hope he rots in a prison cell – but ya’ll shouldn’t be so quick to jump to a verdict… Imagine how horrible it’d be if he was really innocent?
A nice example of how smart voters are.
What material did he have, the entire 70 GB LS Magazine file, that has hundreds of thousands of photographs and hundreds of videos, has been available for free internet download since forever!
As well there is a difference between underage nudies that have no sex or violence, and the rapine, cannibal and snuff porn material that abounds on internet sites, whose webmasters remain at large, while the FBI looks away and twiddles its fingers.
Darren Smith is correct but if he was involved with online chats that would seem to be incriminating. Just having porn or child porn on your computer means that most of the public officials/employees are guilty. Our judicial system should clarify their rules, codes and regulations. Justice is not fair and equal !
LC In Texas, actually the approach in these cases is to treat such possession as a cut and dry matter so long as the computer is under the control of the individual. Obviously, the question of whether a defendant downloaded the files is always the threshold question. The cases get more challenging when there is a one-click download in which hundreds or thousands of images are within a file — some legal some unlawful.
Our state and federal legislatures are filled with vermin lawmakers. The few good one’s are surrounded with parasites.
Rich, I don’t know Mr. Farnham’s party affiliation, but pedophilia is not a political ideology.