I have actually read both links provided.
First:
Quote:
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When he went to his long-term counselor, the counselor completely cleared him of pedophilia and wrote a document to that effect. Kevin Strom is probably the only man within a thousand miles certified NOT to be a pedophile.
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Harvey Yoder is NOT a qualified sexual abuse counsellor with the power to declare such things. He is a Mennonite pastor and a personal friend of Kevin's Mum. Kevin's Mum paid for the "counselling" session. That's the first part out of the way. Do I need to highlight the flaw there? Really?
Second. Harvey Yoder said (paraphrased because it's very late here so if you want links, you'll have to wait till my AM) that Kevin wasn't a paedophile because the girls on met Art were over 18. He then went on to say that he (Yoder) wasn't qualified to state if the girls on Met Art were over 18.
There is, I understand, a disclaimer on Met Art stating that all the girls featured are over 18. Well, if you ask me, the defence then is simple. You print out the disclaimer, show it to the judge and tell him
to kiss your arse that to the best of your knowledge, you have committed no crime. You thought the girls were all over 18. Case dismissed.
However, the photo he was charged with wasn't from Met Art, was it? You don't get charged with looking at normal, adult, naked women. The one photo he ended up copping to was encrypted. You don't encrypt photos of normal adult women.
Yoder was not qualified to "clear" anyone of paedophilia. He has no more authority than any of us to state whether someone is or isn't a paedophile.
Why wasn't this report used in court to exonerate Kevin or get him a lighter sentence? Well, there's a few choices.
It was paid for by Kevin's Mum. You hire a tradesman, he does what you tell him.
It didn't address the child porn, only the normal porn.
It wasn't written by any sort of qualified professional. It carried no weight at all.
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As for the newspaper article - again: if the NA wants to spend the majority of its time combatting objections to one of its leaders being a convicted paedophile who features on the Megan's Law website as such - well, good luck to it.