WARREN – The former mayor of Hubbard pleaded not guilty Thursday after he was secretly indicted on 20 felony counts in connection to the sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl.

Richard Keenan, 65, who served as Hubbard mayor from January 2010 to December 2011, was arraigned before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay. McKay ordered Keenan be held on $75,000 bond after his attorney, J. Gerald Ingram, argued his client has medical issues and did not have a prior criminal record. Assistant Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman had asked McKay to set a higher bond at $500,000.

The former mayor, with his head down, was taken away in handcuffs, escorted by two deputies to the Trumbull County Jail. He posted bond just after 4:30 p.m., according to jail records, and the judge ordered him not to have contact with any minor children, including his grandchildren, court records show. He is due back in court 8:30 a.m. Sept. 12 before Judge Peter Kontos, records show.

The investigation is ongoing, Wildman said, and he refused to give further details about the case.

Keenan pleaded not guilty to eight counts of rape that carry potential life sentences, eight counts of gross sexual imposition and four counts of attempted rape that also carry a life sentence specification because the victim was under 10 years old.

A special grand jury report, unsealed Thursday, accused Keenan of sexual contact with the same minor female victim from Sept. 12, 2013 – the girl’s fourth birthday – through June 21, 2016.

A June 22 report from the Hubbard Police Department said officers received a call in reference to a “sex crime involving a minor” in the 300 block of Moore Street. The report, which listed Keenan as the suspect, said the incident occurred between 7 and 10 a.m. on June 21.

The Hubbard police report also noted the Trumbull County Children Services Bureau would follow up on the case.

Keenan, 331 Moore St., was elected mayor on Dec. 29, 2009, by 11 Trumbull County Democratic Party precinct committee people from Hubbard. In that vote, Keenan defeated former councilman Dan Livingston and former Mayor George Praznik. He was sworn in as mayor on Jan. 5, 2010, serving the remainder of the unexpired term of Arthur Magee, who retired because of health reasons.

In 2011, Keenan chose not to run for election as mayor on his own because of personal reasons. He was succeeded by Richard Darko, who became mayor Dec. 31, 2011.

Keenan, who served on Hubbard City Council in the 1990s, retired in 2010 from the CSX Railroad in New Castle, Pa. He also worked as a Girard Municipal Court probation officer and with the P&LE Railroad in Struthers, where he was president of the local transportation workers union.

He and his wife, Diana, have three daughters and several grandchildren.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com