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Former GBAtemp member and suspected pedophile gets 20 year sentence

A former member of the community, not extremely active on GBAtemp but known for contributions to several projects on the 3DS hacking scene, Thomas Edvalson aka 'Cruel', has recently received a 20 year jail sentence for supposedly hosting a child porn site (although he firmly denied it).
gwinnettdailypost.com said:
Thomas Scot Edvalson, 28, appeared to be providing a website where other users could download images of child porn, according to a press release form the District Attorney’s Office. The site came complete with an online guide detailing how to use the dark web to set up a website for trading pictures of child sexual abuse.
Source: Gwinnett Daily Post
A thread was started on GBAtemp to discuss the issue a couple of months ago, before the final judgement was rendered. At the time our decision was to lock the thread up as it began to heavily derail. Some members and visitors took this as a 'cover up' and wondered why we didn't ban this guy's user account on GBAtemp.

We had long discussions in the staff forum and decided to wait for the final verdict (the appeal that is) before doing anything, thereby letting justice do its work. We banned this person from our forums immediately after we heard the final judgement and by the looks of it he won't be around again for a while. Since then, there hasn't been any new threads about the story but if there had been one, we would have allowed it for sure.

At this point we are wondering why anyone would think we are 'covering' this up? Why would we even need to? It's not like people don't know what happened already. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in this thread.

Furthermore, there is an ongoing story concerning another person, it's been posted on a Reddit thread (edit: now removed, but you can see screenshots here) and, again, we certainly won't prevent you from discussing it wherever you want just as long as you stay civil.

We at GBAtemp value freedom of speech above all, but within the boundaries of the law. If you think someone is guilty of a crime it is your duty to report it to the relevant authorities (not the GBAtemp admins, I mean the police). But otherwise let justice do its job. We do not believe that witch hunts have their place on GBAtemp.

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osaka35

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That's still making assumptions.
Those words would not stand a case in court.
He might have condoned those acts, yes, but he didn't make them himself as far as we know, and since there is no evidence that he did them himself, he cannot be convicted of that, nor be accused of it.
He cannot be convicted for what other people did.
I think they take the angle of "you can charge someone driving the getaway car" or "you let criminals stay in your house" kind of angle. Of course, them doing it without your knowledge isn't against the law, sooooo....I guess they were able to prove he knew. Or just got a shitty jury who doesn't know the difference. Or he actully did know it, who knows, thinking that 17 year old was actually 19.
 
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chrisrlink

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I worry bout arc now taking over freeshop (not that he didn't do anything wrong) the other guy can i ask what contributions he's done for the scene but yeah he got off lucky normally it's 10 yrs PER PICTURE/VIDEO found as evidence
 
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Foxi4

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I think they take the angle of "you can charge someone driving the getaway car" or "you let criminals stay in your house" kind of angle. Of course, them doing it without your knowledge isn't against the law, sooooo....I guess they were able to prove he knew. Or just got a shitty jury who doesn't know the difference. Or he actully did know it, who knows, thinking that 17 year old was actually 19.
It's sound reasoning, to be fair. If you consume child pornography, you're perpetuating its production. Children get abused, it's a terrible fact of life, but once that abuse turns into a lucrative business, the consumers are just as guilty as the providers. Imagine if this was about slave trade (and it often times is) - the "I only bought a slave, I don't actually go around with a net abducting people" defense doesn't fly. I don't have an issue with people's sexual fetishes - they have a mental disorder and need help. That being said, once they become abusers or consumers of illegal material, that's a crime, plain and simple. It's a terrible affliction that needs to be addressed, but criminal acts still need to be punished.
 

angelus kun

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Everyoone does some illegal things :/ ñike piracy (i have luma on my 3ds soo..) or drougs, but the truth always come for the innocents :)
 

chrisrlink

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something tells me it partially does i mean what kind of sick fuck (excuse my language) who is also a scene dev would be stupid enough to do this but.....there are also crooked cops/DA's you never know
 
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Man people accusing GBATemp for dumb shit...
How does banning make people suspect that mods/admins are trying to hide the truth, i don't understand people sometimes :(
 
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Gizametalman

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I don't know the guy... this is sooooo weird.
I thought that this place was something more like PirateBay, but this?
I honestly, can't believe that the all-mighty TheCruel, the guy who gave us the FreeShop did that.
Also... can anyone confirm, if this guy is really him?
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I know, it doesn't change the fact that it's wrong and people, in this case children, are being put in horrible situations sometimes against their consent. I do respect and understand that, but that doesn't mean that just because he did something to a child he should be given false accusations to more illegal activities which he might or might have not done himself.

They did convict him for sharing CP, not raping children, and unless proof is shown, he didn't rape children.
I see where you're coming from now. I don't know who said he raped any kids, but you're right there is no proof of that.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I don't know the guy... this is sooooo weird.
I thought that this place was something more like PirateBay, but this?
I honestly, can't believe that the all-mighty TheCruel, the guy who gave us the FreeShop did that.
Also... can anyone confirm, if this guy is really him?View attachment 85014
Yes that's him.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Sorry guys, gonna have to report 99% of the people here for piracy :rolleyes:


Ontopic: He got what he deserved imo, pedophilia shouldn't be taken lightly.
Most places piracy is more of a civil matter than a criminal one.
 
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Or he actully did know it, who knows, thinking that 17 year old was actually 19.
Legally in the US, I don't think there is an age distinction when it comes to pornography, which is strange because the age of consent in most states is 16. So you could have sex with a 17 year old but looking at a picture of that person even partially nude is considered child pornography.
 
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smf

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if he doenst rape children without concent i tink its a bit hard to put him in jail and ban him from this site, if watching cp is what he neeed to get rid of his demon seed let him do it it doesnt hurt anyone

The person in the images is still alive knowing what people are doing, so it does hurt someone.

People who distribute are treated way more harshly than possession. Which is why torrents were abandoned, everyone was an uploader.

If he is guilty then 20 years is still quite harsh, when rehabilitation has a very high success rate. When you realise just how many people there are out there and locking them all up for a long time is very expensive and a waste of life. A lot of offenders started out as victims themselves and were never given the support they needed.

The problem is so widespread that it will never get sorted all the time people act so violently against offenders.
 
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I must of not been around when this happened, it is shocking to hear but I think you guys (the staff members and admin included) did the right thing and on another note...I can't believe anyone even Tempers would use reddit, it is a cesspool of flames and other negative activity.
 

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so was he set up by nintendo because they didn't want him developing freeshop anymore?
Well considering he was arrested and charged about 4 years ago well before free shop came out nintendo must have travelled back in time to frame him. On a serious note anyone saying he may be innocent like his brother is saying read the reports from his arrest his computer was found to contain over 10000 downloaded child porn pics. They were on his own computer so it destroys what is brother is saying that he was out the country and his website was hacked then how do you explain all the kiddy porn downloaded on his computer. Did someone sneek in and download them when he was away??
 
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The person in the images is still alive knowing what people are doing, so it does hurt someone.

People who distribute are treated way more harshly than possession. Which is why torrents were abandoned, everyone was an uploader.

If he is guilty then 20 years is still quite harsh, when rehabilitation has a very high success rate. When you realise just how many people there are out there and locking them all up for a long time is very expensive and a waste of life. A lot of offenders started out as victims themselves and were never given the support they needed.

The problem is so widespread that it will never get sorted all the time people act so violently against offenders.
Mate, the amount of content reportedly found should have been more than enough for 50 minimum. His punishment is light, imo.
 

leon315

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Well, this is like someone created a vid tutorial about how to build a bomb, then some else followed the guide and used that self built bomb to commit a massacre, then the guy who created the vid tutorial is accused for terrorism and mass murder, even there's no evidence that assume he 's a terrorist.

Thats it
 
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Kioku

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Well, this is like someone created a vid tutorial about how to build a bomb, then some else followed the guide and used that self built bomb to commit a massacre, then the guy who created the vid tutorial is accused for terrorism and mass murder.

Thats it
Not even close...
 
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ItsKipz

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aw geez im already out of popcorn

On topic, really glad this guy got caught (unless he's been falsely accused like people are saying, in which case not so much)
 
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