White Supremacist Busted on Child-Porn Charge

Jan. 4, 2007 — -- A leader of the white supremacist movement was arraigned today on charges of possession of child pornography and witness tampering after being arrested by FBI agents Thursday night at his home in Charlottesville, Va.

Kevin Alfred Strom, founder of the National Vanguard white supremacist group, was considered the leading intellectual of the movement since the death of William Pierce, the author of the notorious "Turner Diaires."

Strom was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, charged with the two counts, and is currently being held at a facility in the city. According to the indictment, he allegedly possessed or attempted to possess "multiple images of child pornography" on his computer's hard drive.

Strom was also charged with witness tampering, which involved physically assaulting and mentally intimidating a witness to his criminal activity.

Last July, Strom took a leave of absence from National Vanguard, citing "family and health matters" and saying that he had "made mistakes, sometimes serious ones," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks white supremacist activity.

"After the death of Pierce, Kevin positioned himself to take over the leadership of the National Alliance," says Mark Potok, the editor of the SPLC's "Intelligence Report." "But he wasn't in the same position as Pierce and he didn't get the same respect. He was a wannabe and he was considered something of a wimp by other supremacists."

Strom wrote frequently about art and beauty, often rhapsodizing about the physical attributes of white women and girls.

In an 2003 essay titled "Millstone for the Mogul" for the National Alliance's Web site, he condemned the producers of the movie "Thirteen" for "what they are doing to our little children -- teen and preteen White children -- to normalize perverse and degenerate sexual behavior for them, to normalize homosexuality, to prematurely sexualize them, and to make interracial sex fashionable to them -- can never be forgiven, can never be explained away. The media moguls who are doing this to our children deserve to be tried and punished for conspiracy, rape, gang rape, murder and attempted murder."