Keith Farnham (September 22, 1947 – June 18, 2017) was a Democratic former member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

who resigned from office and pleaded guilty of distributing

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

in 2014.

Early life

Farnham was born in

Piscataquis County, Maine Piscataquis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,800, making it Maine's least-populous county. Its county seat is Dover-Foxcroft. The county was incorporated on March 23, 1838, ta ...

and grew up in Bangor. According to an article in the ''Bangor Daily News'', he graduated from

Bangor High School Bangor High School, a member of the Bangor School System, is a high school in Bangor, Maine, United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students in grades 9–12. It is Bangor's only public high school. Since its 2001–2002 sel ...

in 1967, but his 2008 campaign website stated that Farnham was on active duty in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

from 1964 to 1968, travelling to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and receiving an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...

Labor career

He became a commercial/industrial

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

contractor for over 25 years, first working with other companies, then founding K&R Christopher in 1986. He was on the board of the Chicago

Painting and Decorating Contractors of America The Painting Contractors Association (PCA) is a non-profit association established in 1884 to represent the painting and decorating industry. It was founded as the "Master House Painters Association of the United States and Canada". PCA has establ ...

(PDCA), was board president for the Finishing Contractors Association of Chicago and was involved in

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...

for the association. He also renovated the Elgin Dairy Company building into luxury

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

Illinois House of Representatives

In November 2008, he defeated two-term Republican Ruth Munson in the heavily Republican 43rd representative district of the

, winning by 322 votes. Farnham was in the Illinois House from January 2009 to March 2014. The district included portions of Elgin, Carpentersville,

East Dundee East Dundee is a village in Kane County with a small section in Cook County. The population was 3,152 at the 2020 census. Geography East Dundee is located at . According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, East Dundee has a total area of , of ...

and South Elgin. His House

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

assignments included Aging, Appropriations (Human Services), Consumer Protection, Education Reform, State Government Administration, and Veterans' Affairs starting with the 96th General Assembly; Disability Services, Elementary & Secondary Education (and its Mandate Subcommittee), and Environment & Energy starting with the 97th General Assembly. He co-sponsored two bills to increase penalties for

. On March 13, 2014,

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

's Homeland Security Investigations raided Farnham's home and his district office in Elgin to execute federal search warrants. Farnham ran unopposed in the 2014 Democratic primary, winning on Tuesday, March 18, but resigned the following day, saying that he had been "battling serious health issues for a number of years".

Criminal case

On March 19, federal agents also took Farnham's State House chamber laptop. On March 20, the search warrant was made public. On April 28, 2014, Farnham was charged. After receiving a tip that a

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

e-mail address was being used to trade child pornography, investigators found chat logs from June 2013 to January 2014, in which the user bragged in detail about a sexual encounter with a 6-year-old girl and said that "12 is about as old as i can handle." The account's use was traced back to Farnham's home Comcast Internet service. At least two videos of child pornography were found on Farnham's Elgin legislative office computer. In addition to two videos showing victims as young as 2 or 3, investigators found over 2,750 images of child pornography. Farnham pleaded guilty on December 5, 2014. Farnham's attorney said that Farnham's details of a 6-year-old girl were fictional and that Farnham "has never, never abused any child, never had any physical contact with a child." The attorney also said that Farnham has a "complex set of medical problems" including

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...

and

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...

, as well as pulmonary fibrosis for which Farnham was seeking to begin an experimental drug treatment, but "without a lung transplant, it's likely he's going to die in the penitentiary". The court continued Farnham's home confinement, which he had been on since his arrest, with stipulations that he not go on his condominium's patio or use the Internet, until his March 2015 sentencing hearing. On March 19, 2015, Farnham was sentenced to eight years in prison. U.S. District Judge

Edmond E. Chang Edmond E-Min Chang (born October 1970) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Early life and education Chang was born in New York City to immigrants from Taiwan, He earned a ...

also ordered Farnham to pay a $30,000 fine. He surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on May 19, 2015, to begin serving his sentence. In February 2016 Farnham was sued by two minors who claim they appear in child pornography found on his computer.

Death

Keith Farnham died on June 18, 2017, at Butner Federal Correctional Complex in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He was 69. Farnham was suffering from bladder cancer, lung disease, and pulmonary fibrosis.'Former Elgin Rep. Keith Farnham dies in prison at age 69,' The Daily Herald, Jamie Sotonoff and Elena Ferrarin, July 21, 2017

References

External links

Representative Keith Farnham (D) 43rd District
at the Illinois General Assembly ** By session
98th97th96th

Candidate Detail: Keith Farnham
from the Illinois State Board of Elections *
Collected news and commentary
at the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Farnham, Keith 1947 births 2017 deaths 21st-century American criminals American businesspeople convicted of crimes American people convicted of child pornography offenses American people who died in prison custody Deaths from bladder cancer Deaths from cancer in North Carolina Illinois politicians convicted of crimes Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Military personnel from Maine People from Bangor, Maine People from Elgin, Illinois People from Greenville, Maine American politicians convicted of sex offences Politicians from Cook County, Illinois Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention United States Navy reservists Deaths from lung disease Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis