The Clarion-Ledger (MS)
June 3, 2004
Ex-radio exec to do time for child porn
Tupelo man given 15 years on two counts of producing pornography
By Jerry Mitchell
A former official at American Family Radio, which regularly warns
listeners about the dangers of pornography, must serve 15 years in
prison for producing child pornography.
In federal court in Aberdeen Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Glen H.
Davidson sentenced Kerry Dwayne Stevens, 47, of Tupelo, who
pleaded guilty to two counts of producing child pornography. A law
passed by Congress last year requires a mandatory 15-year sentence
for creating child pornography.
"It's tragic for everybody involved," said the Rev. Donald Wildmon,
founder and executive director of the Tupelo-based American Family
Association, which started the fast-growing Christian radio network.
"It's one of those things you wish had never happened. His family
was devastated."
American Family Radio, with more than 200 stations in 35 states,
fired Stevens, who produced a children's show for the network as
director of children's news, but Wildmon said the association has
helped to support the family financially through the tragedy.
U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of Oxford praised the cooperation of
Tupelo police and the FBI in the case. "The citizens of Tupelo and
the (Northern District of Mississippi) should be glad to know that
child pornography creators such as Mr. Stevens are being held
accountable," he said.
Stevens must now register as a sex offender and submit DNA
samples. He must also take lie detector tests and undergo psychiatric
treatment.
On Aug. 23, 2003, two California men renting Stevens' home during
the Tupelo Furniture Market spotted images of possible child
pornography on a computer disk while searching for an empty disk.
They turned two disks over to Tupelo police.
Four days later, police arrested Stevens, who remarked "he had a
problem with children pornography," but "had not touched any of the
children."
After his arrest, court documents say Stevens urged 1st District U.S.
Rep. Roger Wicker to influence Davidson to rule favorably on a
motion to suppress evidence. In a motion opposing bond, prosecutors
wrote, "This overt attempt to obstruct justice should surely weigh on
the court in assessing guilt, flight risk and danger to the
community."
In his letter to Wicker, Stevens wrote, "I took my eyes off of Jesus
for a moment and did something terrible ... I took some pictures of
one of my daughter's friends. Suffice it to say that these pictures
were of her in various sleeping positions. Let me hasten to add that
I never touched her person, nor are there any ... showing her face,
nor was there any involvement with the Internet. I did not do this
for personal profit, but from a dark sin. Nor did I touch her,
because I didn't want to wake her and have her damaged
psychologically. And truthfully, I didn't want to take a chance on
getting caught.
"I know what I did was wrong. Oh, how I wish I could simply undo
what I've done!! But I can't."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Roberts in court suggested Stevens
did more than just snap pictures, saying photographs showed an adult
hand adjusting clothing and in one case touching a minor child.
The American Family Association, which boasts it has more than 2
million members, has made fighting pornography one of its top
priorities.
AFA has promoted a boycott of the Movie Gallery video chain for its
rental of porn videos and has urged parents to complain about grocery
checkout lines where "kids (are) corralled like cattle and force-fed
doses of porn" from magazines such as Cosmopolitan.
The association sells Internet filters to families to block
objectionable material and offers workshops and counseling to those
combating pornography and "sex addiction."
Days after the arrest, Wildmon met with Stevens. "He was just a shell
of a person," Wildmon said. "We told him we forgive him."
Wednesday's sentencing serves as a reminder, Wildmon said. "It
shows everybody is vulnerable. If not this, then something else along
the way. All of us are weak in some area."
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