I saw that part in the news story. I just wondered if there was any more information. Awful. 
Someone over on Diva (yeah, I know ;)) said that they knew him to be a course designer.
if he is a course designer at rated shows he would need to be licensed from the federation and would need an active membership as a licensed official
True, but there are plenty of shows that are not rated.
And shows where you don’t need to be a course designer to design courses either
but unrated shows outside the USEF umbrella have nothing to do with safe sport. 4H may be a issue , however. Not sure where those lines cross
That’s also true, but he may have been at rated shows to do things other than design courses, which is why it involves safe sport. And maybe people on the safe sport list are also ineligible for fan memberships
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Well you could be known as a course designer in schooling shows but then be doing something else at rated shows. If he’s just a fan member could he be say ground crew or show office help at a USEF show? Or would you need full membership?
I’m pretty sure ground crew and the like do not need to be USEF members of any type. I don’t know about office staff. Managers, licensed officials, exhibitors, owners, yes, they all need to be members, unless the owners and exhibitors want to pay the non-member fee at every show.
I believe my farrier even told me he has to be a member to be the official farrier at USEF horse shows. I think he even said he had to take the safe sport training and undergo a background check just like a licensed official, but I won’t swear to that last part.
His role at shows has pretty much been limited to “warm body” jobs like announcer, starter, or occasional judge at small shows and I don’t see that any of his courses were for anything bigger than some end-of-year state final shows in CT. I think the only reason he has a USEF membership is because he’s clearly desperate to be part of the horse scene and it gives him some minimal benefits that are useful for someone of limited means. There’s no indication that he’s competed in any manner or ridden since his apparent Pony Club days in the 60’s or whatever he did in the 70’s as a young adult, so I cannot see him having a significant role anywhere, though I would be curious to know if USEF ever had him at a membership level above the lowest.
I think the only reason SafeSport issued a ban is because he happened to have a USEF membership and he would otherwise have gone under the radar and been nothing more than a fart in the wind, receding into distant memory, as far as everyone who knew of the guy as show staff was concerned. His arrest was apparently not discussed or widely known by anyone until his name landed on the SafeSport list and the fact that it took SafeSport so long to issue a ban after his arrest supports the idea that he wasn’t anyone of note and that he had to be called to their attention because he’s worked at shows where children are present and obviously because he’s linked to the death of a child, so I guess it’s safe to conclude that he is a nobody in the horse world outside of the few who know him personally from social events tied to the NJ and FL scene and his show work in PA and CT.
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We share some mutual friends on FB who are pretty well known show managers in NJ.
It looks like he spent a lot of time at Swan Lake which is not terribly far from where the child died.
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What if his name came up in the investigation of someone else and in the course of chasing down that lead and information, SS finds out that he is 1) a criminal and 2) a USEF member so he gets legitimately banned as a result of collateral damage from another investigation but outside of that circumstance would have continued to fly under the radar because he doesn’t seem the type to have attracted attention to himself otherwise.
I suppose that’s possible, but the date of his ban lines up perfectly with the final court appearances of the Mom whose child died - she’ll be testifying against him - and I think it’s likely someone was simply following her court trial headlines and put two and two together to get Tom Keogh and passed it along to SafeSport. He had been arrested and in custody for a long time before the ban came down.
Given what we know about his apparent predilections for much younger male partners and his obvious involvement in the distribution of meth and long-term association with hard-partying LGBQT folk in the horse scenes of NJ, PA, and FL, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has been part of an abuse ring tied to the sport, supplying drugs for “parties”. One of the things that you often see in sex abuse and trafficking groups is the use of meth (or other drugs) on a victim in the same way that you’d drug a horse for compliance and I’m sure you can figure out the rest. I daresay this guy might be someone that the SafeSport people could get some very pulpy juice from if the Feds can squeeze him just the right way, though I don’t believe he’ll just turn on his former party buddies without some heavy incentive, as he will likely be facing the rest of his life in a high-security prison and will want to be somewhere safer.
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It is stated that he hit the SS list due to “criminal disposition” which means he was arrested and charged with a crime, and therefore banned. SS didn’t do any investigating. I expect someone notified them of the arrest because I doubt they monitor all the local crime news on all the fan members.
It sounds to me like: aging partyboy supplies drugs to younger dudes and cruises the horse show scene. It’s all in the family until the terrible death of the child. When the parents get arrested on drug charges they maybe get a deal for naming names and the whole house of cards collapses. He doesn’t even need to be a big drug dealer in the larger scheme of things. He could just have been dealing to his social circle and as a way of making friends 
and being the life of the party.
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@Scribbler i didn’t mean SS was investigating him per se, more like what you were saying except that maybe his name had come up in a SS investigation of someone else and in checking that out found the criminal activity which resulted in automatic ban. Essentially same scenario in terms of a somewhat random find. I was just wondering if the dots happened to get connected internally in Safe Sport rather than someone externally following local news making the connection.
[QUOTE
…Given what we know about his apparent predilections for much younger male partners and his obvious involvement in the distribution of meth and long-term association with hard-partying LGBQT folk in the horse scenes of NJ, PA, and FL, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has been part of an abuse ring tied to the sport, supplying drugs for “parties”…[/QUOTE]
Totally agree. Given all that is said about perpetuation of abuse cycles I’d wonder if he isn’t horse world “2nd generation” passing on the experiences of his youth.
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I’m fairly certain that people associated with 4-H have to undergo background checks so if nothing popped up before it will most certainly now. And all I can say in regards to my previous post is Uh Oh, Oh my… and you just never know about people.
yes 4H you must have a background check if you are a listed leader in a club, etc. but if you were “helping” out in a 4H club or a parent; you don’t need any background checks.
I wonder if those requirements will start to change now with 4H, IEA, Pony Club, etc.
I know a lot of kids sports now require referees, coaches etc to have background checks, but you think the volunteer mom or dad at a Pony Club rally needs/gets a background check? not thinking so - well not at present.
