Former Counselor Says He Only Comforted Boys, by Kathy Thompson, The Advocate, September 23, 2007

Former Counselor Says He Only Comforted Boys

By Kathy Thompson
The Advocate
September 23, 2007

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070923/NEWS01/709230313/1002

Nelsonville — A former camp counselor will take the stand in his own defense Monday to say he is innocent of two counts of gross sexual imposition.

Timmy Keil, 43, of Lancaster, was indicted on the charges in July after he was arrested by Perry County Sheriff's Office deputies when another camp counselor at the Scioto Youth Camp alerted law enforcement that Keil had been seen with a young boy in a cabin — the boy lying on top of Keil while Keil stroked the boy's buttocks and back. If convicted, Keil faces as many as five years in prison on each count and a $10,000 fine for each count.

Fairfield County Children's Services investigated one of the allegations July 10. The agency's report stated it found "no evidence present" of any abuse.

Keil cried during an interview with the Zanesville Times Recorder last week as he sat in the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail, saying he is a "soldier involved in preventing child abuse" and feels he is "fighting a war against the real monsters who abuse children."

Keil said the camp where he is accused of abusing the young boys was understaffed that week and he was "only comforting the boys as any good parent would." He said he was asked by the camp to become a counselor or "shepherd" after a friend introduced him to the staff, and he agreed because he knew how understaffed the camp was at the time.

"The camp director told me all I had to do was be a dad," Keil said. "She told me to treat the children like my own. That's all the training I had for this camp. ... They just pretty much threw me out there and then offered no support."

Keil said he had a background check completed by the Ohio Bureau of Investigations and offered to give it to the camp.

"But they said they didn't require one, so I let it go," Keil said. "Now people are trying to make it an issue based on the allegations against me that these camps don't do background checks. I was the only one at that camp (who) had one done, and they just didn't want it."

Keil said he knew a couple of the boys at the camp because he and his wife were friends with the children's parents.

"So, they put these boys in my cabin since the parents were comfortable with that and the boys would be watched out for by me," Keil said. "One of these boys became very upset during the day and I comforted him like I would my own."

Keil said he took the distraught child back to the cabin and talked to him until the child asked if he could sleep with Keil.

"When he first asked, I thought it could be inappropriat, but then told him he could lay with me on top of the covers until he fell asleep."

Keil also had his smallest child with him at the camp — a child younger than 2 — of whom he also was in charge.

"So, there were the three of us on top of my bed," Keil said. "The little boy fell asleep with his back to me and once he was asleep, I went to his bunk with my baby and we slept there."

Keil also said having his own child at the camp made it a little difficult to control that many boys.

"I had my own child on my hip almost the entire time I was there," Keil said. "I was busy keeping the baby happy and then trying to keep 13 other boys between the ages of 8 and 10 calm, happy and safe."

Keil, who has six children of his own, said he took the instruction to treat the children as one of his own to heart.

"I've been a camp counselor at various church camps for a number of years. I have been involved in the fight against child abuse nationally, and I have my own children," Keil said. "I would never hurt a child in any way, and it breaks my heart to think there are people out there who believe that I would."

The next day, Keil said when he went to wake up the boy, he checked to see if the child had wetted himself during the night.

"I'm very aware of what bedwetting can do to a child," Keil said.

Keil said he briefly put his hand on the outside of the child's pants to see if they were dry or wet.

The next day Keil said another child became upset and was crying so uncontrollably his entire body shook.

"There was just no comforting this child," Keil said. "When my children cry, I feel it is my mandate to comfort them and that's all I did for this small boy."

The boy asked if he, too, could sleep on Keil's bed, and Keil said he asked another counselor if it would be OK.

"The same thing happened as in the first case," Keil said. "The boy put his back to me and this time I put him to bed in his own cot. The other counselor was there the entire time."

That night severe thunderstorms swept through the area, and Keil said the boys were up at the crack of dawn, scared.

"We went for a walk after the storms passed over, but they had been up since 4 a.m. and were exhausted by the afternoon," Keil said. "The little boy that was upset the most just clung to me the entire day. I tried to call him mom but couldn't reach her, so I called his dad. That seemed to comfort him little."

Keil said by this time he, too, was exhausted.

"I knew the boys and I all needed naps and in the afternoon we went to the cabin, but one of the directors came and told three of the boys to go to the movies," Keil said. "I had the one really upset there with me, and the director could see how upset this child was. The tears were just streaming down his face. If that man thought I was going to do something wrong he wouldn't have left me alone with the boy."

Keil said he knows that what he did next might have been a bad judgment call.

"I responded to the child as any dad would," Keil said. "I laid down on the bed with him cradled in my arm, and he fell asleep."

Keil said what fellow counselor John Gornall saw when he walked into the cabin was Keil comforting the child, nothing more. "I never had his pants down or rubbing his buttocks," Keil said. "His shirt was damp from his crying so hard and I was rubbing his arm to soothe him. What John saw was the end of a drama. He never saw the beginning."

Gornall said he walked into the cabin and saw Keil lying on his back on his bunk with the child on top of him, face to face, chest to chest, stomach to stomach. Gornall also said the boy's shirt was pulled up and his shorts were pulled down.

"I knew John was in the room watching us," Keil said. "I wasn't doing anything wrong and I honestly thought John was there to help me."

Keil said Gornall grabbed the child, ran outside with him and started screaming at Keil.

"I thought it was a huge misunderstanding and we would get it worked out," Keil said.

The Perry County Sheriff's Office was then informed, and Keil was taken to the sheriff's office in New Lexington for questioning.

"I was told it would be a couple of weeks before anything would happen in court and was released to my wife," Keil said.

Then police showed up at his door and arrested him.

"They transported me to the county line where deputies from Perry County were waiting," Keil said. "I was able to kiss my wife and told her to pray for me before they lead me away. They told me there were seven victims, and it was like throwing a match on gasoline. No one had ever asked me what happened."

Once at the jail in Nelsonville, Keil said he contemplated suicide.

"I wouldn't eat or drink for three days," Keil said. "But I believe now that there is good reasonable doubt for the jurors. I'm a man of faith, and not a day has gone by that I haven't cried and prayed."

Keil currently is in general population at the jail at his own request.

"They had me in a special section, but I was locked up in a cell for 24 hours a day," Keil said. "I was going up the walls. I want to be with people. It's scary in population, and there have been threats, but God is my protector."

Keil said he feels strongly enough that the jury will believe his case that he turned down a plea bargain offered by the prosecution. Perry County Prosecutor Joseph Flautt could not be reached for comment.

"They told me I could get two years for each count, but I told them 'no,'" Keil said. "I'm more interested in the truth coming out then in making the prosecution look good. This must stop. This is not right to punish me on the backs of those children for something that didn't happen."

Keil said if he is found not guilty, he doesn't think he ever will do volunteer work again.

"I have been so scarred by this," Keil said. "I just want to get my life back and my family back."