It appears awaiting trial in Oakland County Circuit Court was the least of William Arthur Keely’s legal problems prior to his committing suicide in jail Monday.
The 65-year-old Brandon man was also facing the prospect of federal charges related to possessing child pornography and being a convicted felon in possession firearms.
‘Charges had been brought against him; however, because we weren’t ready to charge him (seek an indictment) within 30 days, we had to drop those original charges,? said Special Agent Sandra Berchtold, media coordinator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Detroit Field Office. ‘We really can’t say too much else that wasn’t already in public information.?
Undersheriff Mike McCabe confirmed the FBI still had a ‘hold? placed on Keely at the time of his death, which means even if he had posted the $6.5 million cash bond necessary to release him from county jail, ‘he couldn’t go anywhere until the FBI had their turn with him.?
According to a criminal complaint filed Feb. 11 in the United States District Court in Detroit, the six computers seized from Keely’s home last summer by the sheriff’s department contained ?1,417 pictures of possible victims of child pornography.?
‘Of these pictures, 175 depicted possible sexual exploitation of children and five depicted the possible sexual exploitation of children involving torture,? stated FBI Special Agent Dean Kinsman in a four-page affidavit. ‘Also, stored were two videos of child sexual exploitation.?
‘Several? of the images reviewed by Kinsman depicted nude children, between the ages of 7 and 14, exposed in a ‘lascivious manner,? according to the affidavit.
Many of the images were labeled with the names of the pornographic websites from which they originated.
In addition to child pornography charges, Keely was also facing the prospect of federal charges related to him being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.
According to the affidavit, approximately 17 firearms were seized from Keely’s home by sheriff’s personnel and during the execution of the search warrant he made statements to law enforcement indicating the weapons belonged to him.