Former Illinois state representative Keith Farnham was formally charged Wednesday for allegedly trading hundreds of images depicting child porn online, as well as engaging in graphic chats in which he bragged about raping a 6-year-old girl.
Last year, Farnham co-sponsored two separate bills in the Illinois House of Representatives that increased the state’s authority to prosecute child pornographers. Ironically, these both apply to his own alleged criminal activity. One states that each individual possession of child pornography is a separate crime. The other increases penalties if the victims of items produced or possessed are under the age of 13.
The details in the case, laid out in a new affidavit filed by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, are disturbing.
The affidavit alleges that Farnham “knowingly possessed a computer that contained an image of child pornography” and that he used a Yahoo account under the alias kimdavid5582 to attempt to trade more child porn images. Farnham also allegedly engaged in chats with multiple persons on the Internet about the practice, including one in which he allegedly bragged about raping a 6-year-old.
“12 is about as old as I can handle,” he tells his porn supplier at one point. “I like them at 6 7 8”
Investigators stumbled onto Farnham’s alleged online trail after following leads from an investigation into another online pedophile. “User A” who had listed his or her email on a website volunteering to trade illegal child porn. Investigators discovered that the “kimdavid5582” Yahoo account had exchanged multiple emails and chats with User A.
“Do you trade. always looking for good stuff” kimdavid5582 inquired in one email, attaching at least two videos depicting adults abusing children.
The IP information gleaned from the email header on the message traced back to Farnham’s residence. Farnham also sent other emails from state-owned computers at his office.
Farnham also allegedly used the kimdavid5582 ID on Yahoo Messenger to chat about the content of various videos and images with other users.
In a conversation that took place in November, he told User A, “id love to see a little boy rape a little girl. i wish i had access to all the vids and pics ever made.”
He then went on to describe raping a 6-year-old, the daughter of a stranger he went home with. “she gave me that far away pleasure look,” he wrote while describing his alleged sexual abuse in graphic detail.
The affadavit goes on to describe many of the hundreds of emails, images, and videos that Farnham allegedly exchanged with other child pornography traders. A forensic examination of the multiple computers siezed from Farnham’s home and office found images and videos saved to the hard drives as well as file remnants of the kimdavid5582 email address.
On Wednesday, a federal judge barred Farnham from the Internet, prohibited him from having any contact with children under the age of 18, and ordered him to pay a $4,500 bond. He will remain on house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet until his trial. If convicted, Farnham could face up to 10 years in prison.
The full affadavit, which we’ve copied below, offers a disturbing look, not only into the mind of a pedophile, but into the regular computer activities of those engaged in the illegal but flourishing trade of child porn.
Photo via patdollard/blogspot
