Ex-Lawmaker Convicted On Child Porn Charges Dies In Federal Prison

Keith Farnham, the former state representative from Elgin, had two very different sides to him. One side showed a likable local politician who worked to protect the desires of area residents and children. And the other side, the side that landed him in a federal prison on child porn charges, showed a man with a "horrible addiction"and a dark secret, his attorney, Terry Ekl told the Daily Herald.

Farnham died Sunday, June 18, in prison at the age of 69 after battling health issues for years, according to the Daily Herald. At the time Farnham was sentenced in May 2015, he was in hospice care for bladder cancer and pulmonary fibrosis lung disease.

He was two years into his eight-year prison sentence at the time of his death at a federal jail in Butner, North Carolina.

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Farnham, who was the state representative for the 43rd District from January 2009 to March 2014, was arrested in March 2014 following a search of his Elgin home and his Springfield office, according to the Elgin Courier-News. There, authorities seized computers and turned up more than 2,750 sexually explicit videos and images of children. Some of the media showed children as young as 6 months old.

Farnham resigned from his office shortly after citing health issues, according to the Daily Herald.

More via the Daily Herald and the Elgin Courier-News

Photo via Illinois General Assembly website