Illinois Democrat’s Home Raided In Child Pornography Investigation

[happyg]

Play Name That Party: Kiddie Porn Edition
By: streiff (Diar

When Illinois Democrat Keith Farnham resigned from the State Legislature last Wednesday citing “health reasons” no one suspected his “health” problem was kiddie porn.

At this writing, Farnham has not been charged with kiddie porn possession or arrested for having child pornography. The only indication of his guilt is that the FBI raided the house of a member of the state legislature looking for evidence of child pornography based on sufficient probable cause to merit a search warrant.

There is some delicious irony here, too. If the accusations of possession of child pornography are proven, Farnham masqueraded as a tireless advocate for children:

Farnham, who took office in 2009, is listed as the co-sponsor on two state bills that sought to increase the penalties on individuals who possess child pornography in certain circumstances.

One bill states that child pornography or aggravated child pornography that does not involve mere possession shall be deemed crimes of violence. The other increases the penalties for individuals that film child porn.

One of Farnham’s major donors was the group “Stand For Children” (though Farnham’s current difficulties have lent a more sinister meaning to the group’s name), a group that receives substantial funding from the left wing Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They gave him $50,000 to push whatever idiocy the Gates’s are advocating today.

One of our favorite games here at RedState is playing “Name That Party.” In the spirit of that game I’m providing an extended quote from the Chicago Tribune so you can see how long they waited to mention which party Farnham belongs to:

SPRINGFIELD—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.

Asked about the child pornography matter, Farnham, 66, said Friday in a phone interview: “I can’t comment about any of it.”

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 Tuesday, running unopposed.


http://www.redstate.com/2014/03/25/illinois-democrats-home-raided-child-pornography-investigation/

[Oceander]

Just FYI, the raid took place earlier in March (March 14 to be exact), which means that it took 5 days for his attorneys (and his family) to convince him to resign.  Sounds to me like the search yielded some not-to-legit material.


As per a Chicago Tribune article, federal agents

were searching for documents "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," according to a search warrant released Friday.

Here's another interesting little tidbit from another Chicago Tribune article:

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations executed the federal search warrants, ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said in a statement. The spokeswoman did not disclose what authorities were looking for, saying the investigation is ongoing.

Why Homeland Security agents and not the FBI?  Has Mr. Farnham been making any suspicious overseas trips lately?

[mountaineer]

Why Homeland Security agents and not the FBI?  Has Mr. Farnham been making any suspicious overseas trips lately?

Good question. Would it matter that he may have gotten porn from overseas? Or is it just that DHS seems to have its hands in everything these days?

[Oceander]

Good question. Would it matter that he may have gotten porn from overseas? Or is it just that DHS seems to have its hands in everything these days?

I dunno.  Maybe the matter involves bringing children in illegally for purposes I shall not describe.