SHOCKING: Feds Raid Illinois Democrat in Child Pornography Investigation

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Political observers were puzzled last week when, the day after he was re-nominated to office in the Illinois primary, Democrat state Rep. Keith Farnham announced his resignation, citing health issues. Now that mystery has been solved in a surprising way:

Federal agents sought evidence of child pornography last week when they seized computers from the Elgin district office of former state Rep. Keith Farnham, who resigned Wednesday, according to a search warrant released Friday.
In addition, a federal agent on Thursday took a laptop computer that Farnham used in the Illinois House chamber, and last week agents removed a computer from a legislative office building next to the Capitol, according to the documents and an interview with a state technology official. . . .
Farnham has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, said no charges have been filed and refused further comment.
Farnham handed in his resignation on Wednesday, saying he was “battling serious health issues for a number of years.” He had won the Democratic primary on [March 18], running unopposed. . . .
The federal investigation came to light last week when authorities acknowledged search warrants were executed at Farnham’s Elgin district office and home. Several computers and equipment were seized at Farnham’s district office, as well as a computer from his office near the Capitol, according to federal records . . .
An attachment to the March 7 warrant to search Farnham’s district office indicated agents were searching for “documents in any format and medium pertaining to the possession, receipt or distribution of child pornography” as well as computer files, copies and negatives of child pornography or any documents that depicted minors “engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

Illinois Democrats said they were shocked by news of the investigation targeting the 66-year-old lawmaker. Eric Dondero at Libertarian Republican points out that Farnham had sponsored anti-child pornography legislation, so perhaps the legislator will try the “research” defense,” which no U.S. court has ever recognized. More at BizPacReview and Weasel Zippers.

 

27 comments

  6. Note that the Trib obliquely mentioned his party in the fifth and sixth paragraphs, first that he had just “won the Democratic primary” and then that “Democratic leaders will choose his replacement,” but did not ever come out and say he is a Democrat.

  8. Since we are in the middle of “transitioning” this blog from “The Other McCain” to “Today in Porn,” Fox News is reporting that the producers and cast of “Girls” wanted to air some explicit sex scenes but HBO nixed the idea.

    If they allowed that cast to perform sex acts on camera, it would probably cut the demand for contraception significantly. There are things you can just never un-see.

    Then again, Apatow was quoted quoting HBO telling them, ‘If we put this on TV, we literally could lose our license to broadcast,’ which is interesting since HBO isn’t a broadcast channel, and most of the cable and satellite services which carry it also offer explicit “adult” channels.

  9. I actually know this guy; he was a commercial painting contractor in Chicagoland before he sold his business and went into crime, er, politics. Life of the party, old Keith; outgoing, engaging, certainly didn’t fit the archetype of the kiddie-porn pervert.

    Dumb enough to leave the stuff on his office computer, well, that’s another story.

  10. Well, there are some states like Oklahoma where actual porn is outlawed. I doubt HBO wants to deal with that can of worms.

  18. Also mentioned by inference is the Dems saying “F*** our voters, they can’t be trusted not to believe us!”

  20. The word play is interesting. An investigation didn’t lead authorities to issue warrants. He was targeted. RSM posted a story last week about a large kiddie porn ring being busted. I’m sure it takes a while to run down all the recipients.

  21. No, no, no!

    This is the place where we turn the tungsten-halogen lights onto the lurid, dark corners of the mutagenic mise en scène; the habitat of the socialist-infected gland-o-sphere.

    pr0n is merely a prop. A large OLED panel in the background. A scoreboard of sorts, as the lonely, damaged goods take their turns upon the splintery plywood stage.

    The examination is the innoculation.

  24. Anecdotal! Means nothing! There’s no story here, and certainly no connection with the Democratic Party.

    Please, move along, folks, there’s nothing important here.

  25. Yup, Stacy has been tying lots of loose ends together with the common cord of p0rn: teachers, feminist, politicians. The tie that binds. Lol.

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