Bernie Ward

Former KGO radio talk show host Bernie Ward has received 85 months i prison for child porn charges.

This translates to over seven years in prison.

Ward's case is a "personal tragedy," and a prison term may not be the best way to help him or the children exploited by pornography, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said as he imposed the sentence in a San Francisco courtroom. But he noted that federal law requires at least a five-year sentence, and said some aspects of the case were disturbing.

Walker said Ward, a former Roman Catholic priest whose KGO-AM broadcasts included the Sunday morning "God Talk" program, "had an opportunity to think long, hard and deeply about the problems of child abuse" in the Catholic Church. Why, the judge asked, "when he encountered his own predilection (for child pornography), didn't he seek treatment, seek help?"

And:

Ward's sentence could be reduced by about a year for good behavior in prison. After his release, he will be required for the rest of his life to register with police as a sex offender

What a stupid thing to do. He might as well curl up and die.

This Mild-Mannered Woman

named Linda Figueiredo reveals herself to be the now-legendary "Sexfairy" who brought down KGO talk show host Bernie Ward.

Miscellaneous.

More girls than ever before are participating in sports, and injuries, especially knee injuries, are dramatically increasing:

Girls and boys diverge in their physical abilities as they enter puberty and move through adolescence. Higher levels of testosterone allow boys to add muscle and, even without much effort on their part, get stronger. In turn, they become less flexible. Girls, as their estrogen levels increase, tend to add fat rather than muscle. They must train rigorously to get significantly stronger. The influence of estrogen makes girls’ ligaments lax, and they outperform boys in tests of overall body flexibility — a performance advantage in many sports, but also an injury risk when not accompanied by sufficient muscle to keep joints in stable, safe positions. Girls tend to run differently than boys — in a less-flexed, more-upright posture — which may put them at greater risk when changing directions and landing from jumps. Because of their wider hips, they are more likely to be knock-kneed — yet another suspected risk factor.

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The dig at Barker Ranch in Death Valley is expected to begin May 20 and will last for about four days.
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The allegations Bernie Ward made inappropriate sexual advances to two Ursiline High School students was a surprise to some.

This is a February report about the Sexfairy scandal.
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Nevada brothel owner David Burgess had his license suspended by the Storey County commissioners, which had no choice for Burgess has been convicted of a felony.
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We honor mothers for one day out of the year, but we treat them like crap the rest of the year.
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Today is Jenna Bush's big day. I hope she is happy.
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For the dinner hour I present this blog entry written last New Year's Eve about the ten most disgusting diseases, infections, and syndromes.
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Bernie Ward

admitted he emailed between 15 and 150 images of child pornography.

In Case Readers Are Interested,

Ronn Owens of KGO radio will have a discussion of the Bernie Ward case today.

If you miss it, you can catch the podcast here on the Friday link. It's already up.

It is interesting, especially this last half hour about how people get access to child porn inadvertently. Stay away from internet porn, period. It's scary shit.

The Complaints

against former KGO talk show host Bernie Ward extend back to the priesthood, according to this report:

"There was some concern Bernie possibly being involved with some female students from Ursuline High School next door," says Latorre.

The I-Team has been able to confirm two sexual misconduct complaints against Ward when he was a priest. First, Rosanne Schwab. Father Bernie got her parents' approval to take her to the beach for a day when she was 17.

"This was a different time and place where priests really were trusted, and so Bernie and I headed out to Bodega," says Schwab.

On the way, Schwab says Ward stopped at a liquor store, bought a bottle of 151 rum. When they got to the beach, he parked on a cliff.

"He produced a joint out of his pocket," says Schwab.

Schwab says they smoked marijuana and drank. Then, Father Bernie began pressing her for intimate details of the sex life with her boyfriend.

"Every time I tried to bring the conversation around to something that made me feel safer, Bernie would bring it back to the sex," says Schwab.

Schwab says she grew very uncomfortable and when Ward put his hand on her shoulder, she froze with fear.

"And he took that same hand and grabbed the back of my head and pulled me to him and stuck his tongue in my mouth and held me very tightly with the one hand behind my head and the other hand up against my breasts," says Schwab.

And in the other incident, the girl punched Ward in the stomach when he tried to kiss her.

Totally inappropriate behavior when both people were minors. However, it isn't known yet whether Ward quit the priesthood on his own or whether he was kicked out. According to his file, there was no allegation of misconduct, and his lawyer says the allegations are false.

You can watch the video report at the link.

Ex-Talk Show Host

Bernie Ward has admitted to child porn charges:

Bernie Ward, a prominent radio talk show host and reporter in the Bay Area for more than two decades, admitted today to distributing child pornography in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker was prepared to accept Ward's guilty plea at a hearing in San Francisco to one count of distributing child pornography, but agreed to hold off at the request of Ward's attorney, Doron Weinberg. Had the guilty plea been officially submitted today, Ward could have been sent to prison immediately.

As part of the plea agreement, two other child porn charges against Ward were dropped.

That should be the end of that. He's done for good.

KGO has been reluctant to talk about the Ward case. At least one host has decided to open the floodgates today. You can listen to Ronn Owens' podcast here by clicking on the Thursday link.

Ruined Former Talk Show Host

Bernie Ward has decided he will change his plea on Thursday.

He is expected to go to trial next month on child porn charges.

Since he pleaded not guilty last December, it sounds like it will be a guilty plea.

There is more:

The ABC 7 I-Team has confirmed Bernie Ward will change his “not guilty” plea to child pornography charges tomorrow afternoon in Federal Court. Ward’s attorney, Doron Weinberg, would not tell us exactly what his plea will be, but Ward has two options – “guilty” or “no contest”. ABC 7 Legal Analyst Dean Johnson explains, on the criminal side, they have the same result – the judge writes down “guilty”. A “no contest” plea helps Ward if there were a civil suit; it’s not an admission of liability.

Miscellaneous.

Our dictator's approval numbers continue to plummet to the point where he is truly irrelevant anymore.

I guess I should put up the link.
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There is still no clear frontrunner in the race for Bernie Ward's old job at KGO.

Some prime candidates:

All of the candidates vying for the 10 p.m.-1 a.m. slot vacated by Ward after he was indicted for possession of child pornography in December have experience at KGO. Comedian and author Brian Copeland has a Sunday morning show; Christine Craft, a broadcaster with a long résumé, has done fill-in work for years; LA Times writer David Lazarus worked at KGO on weekends when he wrote his consumer-oriented business column for the San Francisco Chronicle; and Charles "Karel" Bouley, the station's only openly gay host, hosts two popular weekend shows he broadcasts from Long Beach. And then, with as much of a chance of getting the slot as Ron Paul has of getting the Republican nomination, there's Ward himself, who is awaiting a federal trial in June on charges that could result in a 15-year prison sentence.

Before I Head Off to Bed,

it's time to ask who is the now-infamous "Sexfairy"?

I spoke to the woman known as “Sexfairy” last night. Linda Figueiredo turned in former KGO Radio host Bernie Ward for child porn. (She doesn’t live at the address in Oakdale noted on the police report any longer – good thing, because the unredacted report’s been posted on-line elsewhere. Given the national interest in the story, who knows what sort of attention she would have received.) Figueiredo is a thirty-three-year-old mother of three who told police in December 2004 that she sometimes logs onto the internet to discuss sex, using e-mail and live chats. Last night, Figueiredo declined my request for an interview, saying she’s been directed not to talk until the case wraps up.

Counterpunch

has yet another piece about the ongoing Bernie Ward soap opera.

Old Ward ain't got a leg to stand on. If he wanted to investigate child porn, he should have enlisted the authorities in order to cover his stupid ass.

As it is, he'd better pray for a reduced prison sentence.

Ward's claim that he was trying to reveal hypocrisy in his Instant Message correspondent doesn't wash either. Even if she supported the likes of Dubya, wouldn't simply exposing her as a dominatrix show her two-facedness? Who needs child porn for that? It makes no sense.

So--book in the works or no book--Ward hasn't got a journalism leg to stand on. As for the two other media people, Matthews and Eichenwald, we may never know exactly what they were up to, either. They also behaved recklessly when they took up the child porn story.

In this earlier piece from a couple of weeks ago, Ward tried to explain himself:

I got an answer, from Ward himself. "I did have notes," he wrote in an e-mail. "Notes on what I was doing and conversations I had, etc. I told people I was going to write a book, and one of those people also saw the index cards that I had notes on." He also had a meeting at Perry's on Union Street with a publisher's rep, he says, and that meeting was scheduled by his producer at KGO. Ward says he has informed KGO about his notes but hasn't had access to them "because of the fear of being accused of adding to them or doctoring them in some way."

Ward adds: "I never downloaded anything to my computer, and nothing was found there."

It doesn't matter, you dumb shit. You shouldn't have even tried to mess with that crap.

Ward's trial is set for June 10.

As the World Turns.

The San Francisco Chronicle finally gets around to reporting about the latest devastating news about the Bernie Ward case.

The guy is so done, finished, kaput, it's rather pathetic. To hell with the "research" excuse; you don't talk slime about your kids to get "information."

He'll be lucky if he gets a reduced prison sentence.

The Smoking Gun

has more on the Bernie Ward mess.

Before I Hit the Sack,

I noticed Drudge, whose site I don't visit as much as I should, provided this link of the shocking internet chats of Bernie Ward, now sacked from KGO radio:

The woman gave police the photographs and a transcript of her online conversation with Bernie Ward.

It's Christmas week, three years ago. Ward's on his home computer using the screen name "Vincentlio." He begins the chat with "Good afternoon, mistress." The woman using the name "Sexfairy" answers, "How was your day, slave?" In explicit detail, Ward describes being humiliated sexually. At one point, he asks, "Are you going to make me feel dirty, mistress?" "Sexfairy" answers, "Yes, I am."

Ward discusses group sex he had at an infamous porn theater in San Mateo. Then, nearly an hour into the conversation, he brings up photographs, "I love trading pictures." "Sexfairy" answers, "and why haven't I gotten any pics, slave? Send me some."

Ward sends several pictures -- one of a woman and two children. Ward describes her as a mother in her late thirties, she's topless. He says the naked boy is 14, that the girl wearing clothes is 12. They're all touching in a sexual way.

I hope Ward has some good investments to live off of, for he'll never work again.

Miscellaneous.

Not surprisingly, KGO talk radio host Bernie Ward has been sacked, effective the end of 2007.

His career is ruined. No radio station would ever touch him again.

KGO

has kept its mouth shut about the Bernie Ward case.

Of course Ward will never return there regardless of how the case pans out.

Snip:

Ward was home this week, in shock, feeling like he was in "lockdown," he said, and had little support.

During a phone interview on Tuesday, he said he wished he had a chance to give his side of the story on his radio show.

"All I would ask is, 'Why?'"

Somebody Who Supports

Bernie Ward during his current legal troubles has a site up.

Counterpunch

has a rather interesting article about the Bernie Ward case. His is not the first case of its kind, either:

Ward’s case is strikingly similar to that of Larry Mathews, a media figure who faced child porn charges in the late 1990s. Mathews was a Washington DC-area radio reporter in his late 50s. He had won press awards and was known for covering social issues, including the problem of internet child porn. When arrested, he said he had acquired illegal material because he was impersonating a pedophile in order to do another story.

The government countered that Mathews had no notes or story assignment from a media outlet. The ACLU, National Public Radio, and other press and First Amendment organizations spoke out for him and filed supporting legal briefs. But an appellate court later ruled that journalists have no right to acquire or distribute child pornography while doing research. Mathews was convicted and served several months in a halfway house.

And this:

However, the statute was cited in August 2006 by the New York Times. Kurt Eichenwald, then a Times reporter, said he accidentally accessed a few illegal images while doing month’s-long reporting on Internet child pornography. In a sidebar to one of Eichenwald’s articles, the Times said that a law – presumably 2252-- excused the reporter’s encounter with the illegal material. But Eichenwald’s published work implied he had accessed far more than two images.

Further, Eichenwald in 2005 obtained and used administrative sign-on privileges to explore a commercial porn website containing images of a 14-year-old boy masturbating. Eichenwald went on to write a major Times story based on reporting he did about this site and the people who ran it.

We will have to see if Ward really is telling the truth he was doing investigative research. The question I have is why he didn't contact authorities BEFORE doing any such online stuff.

More

about the Bernie Ward indictment:

Federal prosecutors pursuing a child pornography case against liberal KGO radio talk host Bernie Ward were pressuring him as far back as a year and a half ago to accept a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for five years, according to knowledgeable sources.

At one point, the feds gave him a week to think it over and said the offer would be off the table after that.

"He was very upset," recounted one confidante, who asked not to be named.

Ward says he was only researching a book when he downloaded child-porn images in December 2004 and transmitted them to a woman with whom he had been communicating on a chat line. And after conversations with his lawyers, Ward rejected the plea deal - and Thursday, he was indicted.

The Judge

has unsealed the indictment against Bernie Ward.

The indictment lists a narrow window of time in which Ward accessed and traded child porn -- December 23rd, 2004 and January 1st through the 13th, 2005.

Dean Johnson says that's good news for Ward.

"The timeframe in my mind really gives credence to what Mr. Ward said about this being an isolated incident, that it wasn't motivated by any desire to possess child pornography or exploit children, but rather that he was researching a book or whatever he claimed," says Johnson.

Johnson says child porn is similar to illegal drugs in one way -- just possessing it is a crime, no matter what your intention. We'll see how this plays out.

The indictment is here.