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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