Neighborhood watch: Kiddie porn possessor to be released
Kevin Strom in a pre-arrest Wikipedia page photo.
Kevin Strom, who was sentenced to 23 months for possession of child pornography and who proudly counts himself a white separatist, gets out of prison tomorrow, and his pending residence in the 1100 block of St. Charles Court is causing some neighborhood consternation.
Filling neighborhoods with unwanted racial pamplets and papers has long been a tactic of white supremacist organizations. In this case, however, it appears someone in the neighborhood, or someone who doesn't like Kevin Strom, may be doing the leafleting.
The Charlottesville neighborhood where Strom, founder of a now-defunct white separatist organization called the National Vanguard, will live with his mother, stepfather, and two children has been papered with fliers warning about the registered sex offender who will be residing among them.
Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo, who lives in that neighborhood, hopes Strom gets a fair treatment in his transition back into society.
"We talk a lot about redemption," says Longo. "He's served his sentence. I would hope people will not pre-judge."
Longo calls Strom's mother and stepfather "good people" and "good neighbors," and he says his children play with Strom's children, who have been living with Strom's mother while he was incarcerated on the child porn possession charge. And Longo points out that Strom, who has been at the Federal Correctional Complex in Petersburg, will be heavily supervised during his 15-year probation.
Strom went to trial last year on charges of enticement of a minor and witness intimidation, charges that were thrown out. He pleaded guilty to one count of child porn possession, but said he'd possessed it "unwillingly," and at the April 21 sentencing declared, "I am not a pedophile."
His estranged wife, Elisha Strom, denies leafleting St. Charles Court about Strom's September 3 release, but says, "Someone has to notify the neighborhood, especially since he's still pretending to be innocent."
The Stroms' tempestuous relationship was revealed in court last fall, after Elisha Strom's phone calls to police accusing Strom of kiddie porn possession, stalking a 10-year-old friend of her daughter's and intimidation of a witness–- herself–- led to felony charges. She did admit to bashing Strom on the head with a telephone.
While Strom is not prohibited from being around his minor children, Elisha Strom maintains that her husband is a danger to children. "He's in denial," she says. "[Strom and his parents] are trying to play the victim. They're not victims."
Another St. Charles Court resident, who asked that her name not be used, is most concerned about "those two wonderful children living in that household with Kevin's mother." She says, "I can't imagine the impact on them. I just don't know what the publicity is going to do to those children."
25 comments
The article fails to say that most of the charges and accusations in this article were thrown OUT by the judge on the very first day.
Kevin Strom may have been guilty of something or he may have been railroaded. But there is no evidence he ever harmed children. As a person who was molested myself,l I have no forgiveness for pedophiles. but there is no evidence he was one. There IS evidence the court knew he was a white rights activist. . . .
In any case, the man has done his time.
Kiddie porn is the easiest crime in America to be set up for, and it is virtually impossible to defend against. The accusation alone is enough to convict. Whether this guy did or did not possess child pornography, he has done his time and deserves the chance to start over. Michelle Obama is right - America is a mean country!
The facts are that regardless of whether or not he was "railroaded" because of his beliefs about race, the jury has spoken and as a society we need to keep a watchful eye on our neighbor. Pedophiles have a huge failure rate and it is up to Mr. Strom to keep himself well out of harms way. It is also up to anyone involved to be fair in both directions when protecting the children. You cannot unring a bell or unmolest a child.
Mr. T - where are you getting your statistics for the "huge failure rate"? US Dep't of Justice statistics on recidivism among sex offenders of all types shows a 5.3% re-arrest rate, and a 3.5% re-conviction rate. Dept. of Justice statistics for the same period show rearrest rates for all violent crimes at 61.7%, and reconviction for violent offenders at 46.9%. Yet those ex-cons aren't singled out and subjected to vigilante harrassment upon release. Demonizing people who have served their time, taken their treatment, and returned to society neither protects children nor honors America's ideals of "justice for all." It merely fans the fires of the latest hysteria - and in doing puts children at risk by so inflating the registered sex offender lists that the true (and rare) predator who is a real danger to others is concealed in the registry list instead of being highlighted as legislation like "Megan's Law" intended.
Dear Marie Drummond,
The DOJ statistics you cite sound very encouraging, but they DO fly in the face of all I have ever heard about pedophile recidivism. I recall as a then Massachusetts resident the then governor 1991-97, William Weld, a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General under Reagan (Harvard college summa cum laude and then Harvard Law School grad) on the topic, and he was saying on television that the recidivism rate for child molesters was around 80% and, he said with dejection and disgust, it seemed an incurable addiction. I of course would like to believe your hopeful assertion, Marie, not his. I am, however, very concerned, in view of shocking books such as the "Franklin Coverup" book by Nebraska state senator John DeCamp, that there is a federal-level conspiracy to minimize child molestation because it actually goes on in the Congress and among congressional staffers. Pat Buchanan is one of the few commentators to openly say the Republicans still have a serious problem here with pedophiles. Where lies the truth? I will repeat that I was molested myself, and for years, and I am very deeply interested in your reply, Marie.
What sort of child porn? Getting a 17 year old gun-toting girl pregnant? That's a good thing according to Goode (and the rest of his GOP boys/girls).
Kevin could very well have a sexual problem however it is also obvious something more is going on here than meets the eye. What are the odds that fellow critics of Zionist power like Chester Doles, Shawn Walker, Ernst Zundel, David Duke, Germar Rudolf, Matt Hale, just to name a few, would ALL wind up in the slammer on the flimsiest of charges in the past few years? I've always been a little skeptical about this case against Kevin Strom and will remain so -
The same government that just murdered over 600,000 people in Iraq and refuses to secure our borders locked up Kevin Strom. If he was completely innocent, I wouldn't be surprised. Keep writing Kevin!
Free Zundel, I don't think even you realize how often the criminal justice system is abused and misused by those in authority in the course of their retributions, retaliations, and pure vindictiveness against certain people. In most cases, just as in Strom's, there little a person can do after a conviction. But when there's no conviction to be had, the falsely accused person can sue and set out to prove the actions against him/her were out of retaliation and vindictiveness afer the criminal charges are dismissed. There's a $4 million dolllar lawsuit pending against a Charlottesville police officer right now alleging all of the above. The same suit is pending against 2 Alexandria officers who seemed to have been duped by this local police officer.
Traveling way off topic more or less, look at what they are doing to O. J. Simpson right now. They're going to put O. J. Simpson in jail one way or another, no matter what the cost or how many lies have to be dreamed up. (Like the lie Det. Fuhrman told when he claimed he had no hard feelings against O. J. Simpson and has never used the "N" word. He should have been charged with perjury.) The entire trial is turning into yet another three ring circus. A commonwealth's witness now selling ad space on his limo going to and from court. This same commonwealth's witness dining at a restaurant after his testimony if the restaurant will pay him $5,000 for the publicity.
Whether or not Furhman used the n word is irrelevant. We all know OJ did it. He wasn't riding in that Bronco asking for his mother because he was home baking a cake at the time of the murder.
Your disdain for law enforcment has a foundation but it is only one wall of the courthouse that is shaky.
If the rate of second convictions is low it is either 1) because the punishment fit the crime or 2) they went underground.
Sick, why don't you send your kids camping with Mr Strom to see whats what?
After reading everything everyone has said relating to Kevin Strom's release I have but one comment. What he did if he did it was wrong. Morally, physically and mentally wrong. My concern as should be ALL parents is the children. Yes he has served his time for what he did/accussed of doing and now he is back in society with you, me and more innocent children including his own. Not one person mentioned the affect this will have on the children. I pray that all children (not just the victims or his children) will some day be able to visit their friends, play outside and have sleepovers without the fear of being molested or raped or killed. As a single parent with 3 girls and a granddaughter and son, I cherish their lives more than I do my own and if any person man or woman was to harm them the way Kevin Strom and others like him hurt them society may as well lock me up and throw away the key because, by any means necessary, it is my responsibility to protect them until they are able to protect themselves. So I leave you with this one last thought, Kevin beware; parents beware and protect your children the best way you know how. Invite your children to speak up about inappropiate behaviors and unwanted touching. Parents protect your children as I will continue to protect mine.
Which children did he harm? The only harm of which I am aware is that -- only through the news media -- some girls in Montana found out he had SUPPOSEDLY photoshopped their heads onto some porn star's body.
Specifically, which kids did he harm? The judge threw out the harm charges.
I think Kevin has some issues, but do we want the government invading our hard disk for our private thoughts? THIS mass-murdering government?
Excuse me, but the man pleaded GUILTY. When you plead GUILTY, your later pleas that you are not guilty are, hmmm, disingenuous. If he was not GUILTY, he should have demanded a trial and, if found guilty, appealed the conviction. For all those "anti-government" crazies in denial, get over it. He's a sex-perv and he's GUILTY.
Truthist, you obviously understand very little about the criminal justice system. May I suggest you watch the new TV show called "Raising The Bar" on the TNT channel. The show is very realistic and can teach you quite a bit.
Most people who enter a guilty plea are doing so in a plea agreement. And most plea agreements are offered because the commonwealth ofen doesn't feel they have enough evidence to obtain a conviction in the charge.
If you watch the local news very often, you'll also learn a lot. Like the guy who just had 17 criminal charges against him tossed out of court. Even after arresting him, dragging his name though the mud in the media, and forcing him to trial... the commonwealth then drops the charges because they didn't have a credible witness. But why was this witness so credible when the warrants were issued? Maybe because the commonwealth was hoping for a plea agreement by the defendant, that's why! And this guilty plea in a plea agreement never took place. The defendant insisted on a jury trial with a not guilty plea.
Furthermore, guilty pleas made in a plea agreement are often way too attractive for defendants to pass up on. This was the case for a Charlottesville police officer recently. He had the choice to accept a few months in jail, get back to his family, and move on with life -- or he could have gone to trial and faced 30 to 40 years in prison. If the feds had enough evidence to put him away for 30 or 40 years, why didn' they go for it? Instead of offering the cop a plea agreement? Think about it. The entire case stunk to high heaven because the cop had already been punished for the accusations against him before the feds stepped in and placed more charges.
In another recent case the police dug an old unsolved crime out of the file cabinet, arrested a man, and hauled him out of his own home. The reason for this was to trample over every constitutional right the man's son had witth the intention being that of fingerprinting the child against his will once the father had been removed from the home. When this false arrest came to trial, the man had the choice to accept a dinky plea agreeement (obviously), or go to trial and face losing his job and retirement package after 35 years on the job.
A guilty plea does not mean a person is guilty.
Would the decades old Coppertone little girl ad be considered kiddie porn today?
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppertone_girl
And let's not forget the mass hysteria and moral panic over children that were being abused by devil worshipers in the 1980's and 90's.
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse
Desiring to look at child porn is a serious mental illness and not a moral failing.
Wake up people! The man plead GUILTY!
who in their right mind would plead GUILTY to a
crime they didn't commit?
This man is not stupid...He knew pleading guilty
to such a Morally Reprehensible crime would be the
end for him, so by pleading guilty... he must really
be GUILTY!
Innocent, IMO.
Sounds like Elisha Strom was coached by a nasty divorce attorney and was told how to use 'brutal divorce tactics' to ruin her husband. This takes place many times a day throughout the USA. All the more reason to avoid marriage until the Family Court system is reformed or abolished. Women are never held accountable for their false accusations and countless lives of men have been ruined.
It is obvious that Strom was railroaded, and I don't even like the guy. His 'conviction' on one count of possessing child pornography simply proves if they want you, they will get you, and what better way is there to neutralize someone whose politics are despised by those in power?
That said, I hope with all my heart that Barack Obama, a black racist, is elected president, so that the drones occupying this morally, culturally and fiscally bankrupt nation will simply kill each other, and free the rest of this planet of its noxious presence.
I think perhaps we should cut through the emotion and look at the facts. I'm not a member of his organization, I don't know the man, and I don't have an ax to grind here.
Fact 1. The child porn charge was that photoshopped images of the heads of two thirteen year-old added to the bodies of adult porn models were found on his computer. This would seem to be a large expansion of what most of us think of when we think of child pornography: that is, young children exploited and traumatized by being photographed or videotaped in the nude for the purposes of sexual gratification.
Fact 2. It is virtually impossible to prove who created the images or put the images on the computer if it was in a place where he wasn't the only one who had access to it...like in a home with other family members, which leads us to
Fact 3. The alleged porn was reportedly discovered when his wife turned him in only while they were going through a bitter divorce, where such tactics are not particularly uncommon.
Fact 4. Mr. Strom was a controversial and polarizing public figure, with more than a few powerful people and organizations out to discredit him.
Fact 5. The crime itself, while all too real in most cases, is unfortunately the equivilent of an accusation of being a witch 400-500 years ago; the predictable response for a majority of people is to automatically presume guilt.
Fact 6. People plead guilty to things they firmly believe they are innocent of every day. The current paradigm is to throw handfuls of charges at someone for a single crime, and facing many years in prison if he is found guilty of them all, he will, both wisely and on the advice of his attorney, bite the bullet and take the shorter term.
I'm a former police officer, and as such I know a bit about the justice system. I just finished sitting on a grand jury, and, unless there was evidence presented beyond what has been revealed so far, I could not have voted in good conscience to indict him (let alone convict him during a trial) if his were one of the cases we had heard. Guilt is not based on the person of the accused or the crime he is accused of; it's based on the facts of the evidence presented...period.
I'm with free Zundel now. David Duke was essentially set up in that he was charged with a crime and then expected to face what would have been an all black jury in New Orleans or cop a plea. Ernst Zundel was simply railroaded period - they didn't even attempt to frame him, they just illegally arrested him, and then unconstitutionally deported him to Canada in order to silence him. Canada then violated its own laws and sent him to Germany where they have no problem throwing people in prison for no reason at all. If they'd go to the trouble with the above, why wouldn't they concoct a charge against Stromm. His former wife currently is haunting the VNN forum. Alex Linder, VNN's owner/webmaster has recently dropped all pretense and is openly allowing agent provacateurs and informants to use his forum for various purposes, none of which can or should be considered positive for White people.
To Klassenite above,
Let me say this - I just plead guilty last week in traffic court to something I didn't do. I was charged with driving 56 mph in a 30 mph zone. There is no way I was driving over 40 mph. Here were my choices.
1. Go before the judge, attempt to convince him that the cop either lied or was too stupid to accurately read his radar system. The judge would almost certainly have found me guilty for driving 26 mph over the speed limit, and then would have made me pay the entire fine +$300.00, court costs +$100.00, and the tiket woulpd appear on my record.
2. Plead guilty, pay $170.00 and request deferred adjudication, which means that if I don't get another tickert in 90 days the entire matter essentially disappears and the ticket doesn't appear on my record, which increases my auto insurance premiums.
The above might be an oversimplification, but when people are charged with serious crimes, and they realize they've already been convicted in the court of public opinion, and they realize the prosecutor and judge are Jews or "friendly" with Jews, they might see the sense behind copping a plea.
I don't know the specifics of David Dukes choices, but it was something like, cop a plea, do a year to jail and keep your right to travel abroad, i.e. keep your passport, or go to a jury and risk 20 years and the loss of all your rights. Now, who here would want to take a chance if you were David Duke with a jury that would have been at least 50% black?
He really should also be prosecuted for wearing that sweater....
Local people know who and where he is to keep kids safe. He should just obey law, keep to himself and not cause trouble.Then we can forget he ever exist.
The child enticement charges may have been dropped but even the judge said he was grooming the 10 year old. He just hadn't done anything YET.......
Strom possessed thousands of images of child pornography. The masturbatory photos of Prussian Blue are merely the images that got the most attention. Furthermore, Strom admitted to possessing all that pornography, claiming that he had somehow obtained it by accident. In addition, Strom admitted in writing that he needed to seek treatment for pedophilia. In summary, the evidence shows Strom is guilty and will likely continue to be a threat to children.