Former Illinois state representative pleads guilty to transporting child pornography

CHICAGO — Former Illinois State Rep. Keith Farnham pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge of transporting child pornography via computers in his office and residence in Elgin last year.

This guilty plea was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago.

Farnham resigned his seat in the Illinois General Assembly in March, less than a week after HSI special agents seized computers from his home and office.

Farnham, 67, of Elgin, Illinois, remains on restrictive conditions of bond, including home incarceration with electronic monitoring, while awaiting sentencing. U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang scheduled sentencing in federal court for March 19.  

Farnham faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $250,000. He must also register as a convicted sex offender. His plea agreement states that the government anticipates a U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range of at least 151 to 188 months in prison.  Federal prison inmates must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence; there is no parole in the federal prison system. 

In pleading guilty, Farnham admitted that on Nov. 25, 2013, he sent an email from a computer in his Elgin office with the following message: "do you trade. This is what I lik." Farnham attached two files to the email that he knew contained child pornography. In addition, he possessed images and videos depicting child pornography on computers and electronic storage devices in his residence, car and offices.

On March 13, HSI special agents executed federal search warrants at Farnham's state office and residence in Elgin and seized computers and electronic storage devices. On that day, Farnham possessed no fewer than 2,765 images of real minors engaged in sexually explicit acts with prepubescent children, including sexual intercourse. Some of these images involved sadistic or masochistic conduct and depictions of violence, according to Farnham's guilty plea.

According to the court documents, HSI special agents were investigating information received from HSI's Cyber Crimes Center that an email address, later linked to Farnham, was being used to trade child pornography on the Internet.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Storino and Michelle Petersen, Northern District of Illinois, are prosecuting this case.

This case was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.