Homeland Security employee charged with molesting young girls in Orange County

An Irvine resident and Department of Homeland Security employee was arrested this week on suspicion of sexually abusing young girls, authorities confirmed Friday.

Prosecutors with the Orange County district attorney’s office allege Terry Edward Keegan, 59, molested three girls, one of whom was 8 years old.

He was arrested Wednesday and is being held in lieu of $1-million bail, jail records showed Friday.

“The victims in this case showed tremendous courage,” Irvine Police Chief Michael Kent said. “We are hopeful the arrest of this predator brings them some comfort and reassurance.”

Keegan’s alleged crimes began in 2011, prosecutors said, when he molested a young girl who lived in the home he shared with his girlfriend and an 8-year-old girl who lived next door. His relationship to the girl who lived in his home was not disclosed.

The abuse continued after he and his girlfriend moved in 2015.

After moving, Keegan allegedly molested a girl who lived next door to the new home, prosecutors said.

“The innocence of children should not be ripped away from them by some monster living next door or even in their own home,” said Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer. “The only monsters in children’s lives should be the ones in bedtime stories and movies, not a living, breathing predator who became the stuff of real-life nightmares for three young girls.”

Keegan was charged with three felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14, one felony count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18, and one misdemeanor count of touching an intimate part of another person, court records show.

He faces a maximum sentence of 100 years to life if convicted on all counts, prosecutors said.