The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has searched state Rep. Keith Farnham’s state office and home, the federal agency confirmed Friday. The move is part of an ongoing investigation, but it was not immediately clear what attracted the feds’ interest in the Elgin Democrat. “Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations executed federal search warrants (Friday) at the Elgin office and residence of Illinois Rep. Keith Farnham,” Gail Montenegro, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement.“No federal search warrant has been executed at Rep. Farnham’s Springfield office. Because the investigation is ongoing, no additional details can be released,” she said.
Contacted by phone at his home, the three-term state representative offered no hint as to the purpose of the search warrants and referred questions to a criminal defense lawyer, who could not be reached late Friday.
“You know, he’s told me not to comment, just to give out his number,” Farnham told the Chicago Sun-Times, referring to his lawyer. “That way I’m fair to everybody.”
A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, did not return a message left on his voicemail. Farnham, 66, is running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.
A spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White confirmed his office had been asked by federal investigators to secure Farnham’s office in the Stratton office building next to the state Capitol in Springfield.
