Strom sentenced for child porn

Kevin Strom’s long journey through the court system concluded on April 21, when he was sentenced to 23 months in jail, with credit for time already served. That sentence followed his January guilty plea for one count of child pornography, which carried a maximum penalty of 10 years and a possible $250,000 fine, plus a lifetime of probation. The plea and final sentence enabled Strom, former leader of the white supremacist group National Vanguard, to avoid a jury trial for multiple counts of possession of child pornography.

Kevin Strom, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “a major American neo-Nazi leader for almost 20 years,” will spend 23 months in jail for possession of child pornography.

Strom was arrested in January 2007 on charges of possessing child pornography on his computer, as well as for witness tampering. Four months later, more counts of possession of child pornography were added, as well as one for trying to entice a 10-year-old to engage in sexual activity. Before the latter charge was tossed in October (as well as the witness tampering charge), Strom was looking at 30 years in prison and half a million dollars in fines.

Throughout his court proceedings, Strom maintained that he was innocent and that the charges were merely a vendetta by his wife, Elisha, who testified in October that she had walked in on her husband, naked and aroused, as he viewed child porn. She also testified that he physically attacked her when she threatened to report his alleged possession of child pornography.

Strom also protested the media’s characterization of his racist views, saying at his guilty plea that the reports were endangering his life. “They’re trying to kill me because of the press coverage,” he said of fellow prisoners. “I deeply resent the way I’ve been characterized. I’m no more a white supremacist than the Dalai Lama is. I love my people just as he does.”

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