WELD – A local man will spend up to six months in the Franklin County Jail starting today, after the court approved a jointly-recommended sentence for sexually molesting three young girls more than eight years ago.
Michael Glennon Keim, 64, of Weld, will serve six months of a partially-suspended four-year Department of Corrections sentence and faces four years of probation when he is released. While on probation, Keim will not be allowed to have unsupervised contact with children and must attend sex offender counseling. His name will be entered onto the sex offender registry for life.
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Police say that during summer church retreats held at his house in 2000, Keim had inappropriate sexual contact with three members of the Calvary Hill Baptist Church in Wilton. All three of those members were female and underage at the time of the alleged incidents. Keim, while having no formal role within the church, apparently assisted the pastor and had been extremely involved within the congregation.
In 2008, during a church-related work camp, one of the victims was approached by Keim, who made inappropriate comments which Assistant District Attorney James Andrews said she termed as “passes” at her.
The young woman told her father, who alerted the police. In the ensuing investigation, two more victims came forward with similar stories. In a phone call between Keim and one of the victims’ father, police were able to get Keim apologizing on tape.
Keim was arrested and charged with three counts of unlawful sexual contact, which was later amended to a single count naming three victims. Keim plead guilty to that charge on Feb. 4.
The sentence, issued by Justice Michaela Murphy in Franklin County Superior Court, came at the recommendation of both Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson and Keim’s attorney, Walter Hanstein. Today, both echoed statements made earlier that the plea deal was in the best interests of the victims, defendant and community.
Robinson said his office had decided to issue a joint-recommendation with the defense for several reasons, including the several years between the incident and report, the fact that the sexual contact was “above clothing,” which is typically seen as being less serious than the alternative, and the guarantee of a conviction. However, Robinson said the biggest reason the state agreed to a deal was to avoid “subjecting the victims to trial.”
Although sentencing had been continued on Feb. 4 to allow the victims time to make their own opinions heard, Robinson said that they had not submitted victim impact statements. He noted that fact did not lessen the actual impact of Keim’s crime.
Hanstein said that the agreed-upon sentence was appropriate because Keim had no criminal record, had clearly accepted responsibility and was already seeking counseling independent to court action. Hanstein also noted that Keim had turned down what the attorney considered a possibly “triable case” in order to spare the victims.
Keim briefly addressed the court, apologizing for his actions.
“I’m deeply sorry for everything,” Keim said. “I’m deeply regretful for the victims, and I’ve also hurt my wife, my family, and I apologize to them and the community. It will never, ever happen again.”
Murphy said that she had decided to approve the recommended sentence due to the potential impact of testifying on the victims, and also due to the large number of letters of support she received from friends, neighbors and acquaintances of Keim.
“When I first head this recommendation,” Murphy said, “I thought that it was quite lenient. But I do believe that your remorse is genuine and was impressed by the number and variety of people expressing support.”
Murphy did slightly modify the no contact provisions of Keim’s probation, requiring that he clear any supervised contact with children with his probation officer.
Editor’s note: The reporter is related to the defense attorney in this story.
