Former Elgin State Rep Faces Child Porn Charges

Former Illinois State Rep. Keith Farnham was charged Monday with possession of child pornography.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, two child pornography videos were found on a computer seized from his Elgin office in March.

Farnham, 66, has not been arrested, but is expected to appear in court Wednesday to answer to the charges.

Farnham resigned from his position on March 19 citing health issues, a day after winning the primary running unopposed.

Federal investigators searched Farnham's office on March 19 and confiscated several computers and electronic storage devices which they say contained child porn images, including a computer labeled "Property of the State of Illinois House of Representatives."

According to the complaint, the HSI Cyber Crimes Center linked to Farnham a Yahoo! email address that was being used to trade child pornography, and reviewed instant chat messages between June 2013 and January 2014.

In one exchange outlined in the criminal complaint, the person at the email address allegedly linked to Farnham requested videos from another individual, saying, "id love to see a little boy rape a little girl."

Investigators say the account linked to Farnham showed "an extensive online relationship with dozens of individuals in which hundreds of images and videos of suspected child pornography were sent from and received."

Farnham also boasts that he abused a 6-year-old girl in an email chat session, according to the criminal complaint.

Possession of child pornography carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine in Ilinois.

Attempts to email Farnham for comment on the allegations were not immediately returned.

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