Tuesday, June 19, 2012

School Teacher Arrested and Charged for Enticing a Minor to Engage in Sexual Acts


Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Addy M. Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, (FDLE), Miami Field Division; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; Chadwick Wagner, Chief, Hollywood Police Department; Al Lamberti, Sheriff, Broward Sheriff’s Office; and Franklin Adderley, Chief, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, announce today’s filing of a complaint following the June 16, 2012 arrest of Thomas Patrick Keelan, 54, of Roanoke, Virginia, on charges resulting from an FDLE-led investigation into allegations that Keelan attempted to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and that he traveled in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor. Keelan made his initial appearance in federal court today at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman.

According to the criminal complaint, between 2009 and 2010, Keelan was a teacher at a private school in Miami-Dade County. While at the school, Keelan began to have a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. According to the criminal complaint, over the next two years, Keelan had sex with the minor approximately 60 times.

The complaint further alleges that in the fall of 2010, Keelan accepted a job as the head of the English department at a private school in Roanoke, Virginia. In May 2012, the Miami-Dade victim, then 17 years old, began cooperating with law enforcement and placed several phone calls to Keelan. In these calls, Keelan expressed his love for the minor victim and, in one call, masturbated while on the phone with the victim. By the end of the call, Keelan had told the victim that he wanted to travel down to Miami to have sex with the victim again. In a subsequent call, Keelan told the victim that he would meet the victim at the same hotel in Hollywood, Florida where he and the victim had sex before.

On May 28, 2012, the complaint alleges, Keelan reserved a room at a Hollywood hotel for seven days, beginning June 16, 2012. On June 1, 2012, Keelan told the victim that he planned to leave Virginia by car on June 15, 2012 and arrive in South Florida on June 16, 2012. According to the complaint, on June 16, 2012, Keelan arrived at the Hollywood hotel, parked his car in the hotel parking lot, and entered the lobby. Keelan was arrested when he entered the hotel.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FDLE and FBI. Mr. Ferrer would also like to thank the Hollywood Police Department, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy K. Altman.

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