Dec 7, 2007 11:47 pm US/Pacific
SF Radio Host Bernie Ward Faces Child Porn Charges
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
Longtime San Francisco radio talk show host and former Catholic priest Bernie Ward has been indicted on federal child pornography charges, according to his employer and his attorney.
Ward, 56, surrendered to federal authorities Thursday on two counts of using the Internet to send and receive child pornography, according to KGO Radio Operations Director Jack Swanson.
"Bernie Ward has been a valued, long-time employee of KGO Radio. We were just recently made aware of these serious charges and are surprised and concerned by their nature," Swanson said.
While the specifics of the allegations against Ward remained under seal and the U.S. Attorney's Office didn't immediately comment, Ward's criminal lawyer Doron Weinberg said he pleaded not guilty to the indictment before a federal magistrate in San Francisco.
Weinberg said that as part of research for a book more than four years ago -- Ward downloaded a few images of child pornography.
"It's really tragic that the government has decided to prosecute him for a judgment he made as a journalist and to treat him as a child pornographer when he is not," Weinberg said.
Weinberg said the indictment was issued in late October but prosecutors agreed to keep it sealed while Ward conducted his annual Thanksgiving Charities drive, which according to KGO-AM 810 raises thousands of dollars annually for hungry and homeless people in the Bay Area.
Weinberg said he expected the indictment to be unsealed within the next few days now that Ward has appeared in court.
Weinberg said Ward wanted to learn about the culture of child pornography because he planned to include hypocrisy about pornography in his book.
"Bernie was in the process of writing a book about hypocrisy in America," Weinberg said. "As part of it, for a few days in December of 2004, he accessed child pornography."
Ward never finished the book because the FBI searched his house and seized his hard drive in early 2005, the attorney said. Since that time, Ward and his lawyers have tried to convince investigators that his efforts were done in the pursuit of journalism.
"It may have been an error of judgment, but he was not doing it to exploit children," Weinberg said.
Jeanette Boudreau, Ward's business lawyer, echoed the comments of Ward's criminal attorney.
"He was doing research," she said. "For him to be charged this way for what probably amounts to a technical violation of the law is a tragedy."
Ward, frequently called the "lion of the left" for his staunchly liberal views, hosts a popular news-talk program nightly on KGO as well as a program called GodTalk on Sundays. He is also a frequent voice offering commentary on politics on various national cable television network news programs.
A substitute host was to take over Ward's radio shows on KGO beginning
Thursday night, said Swanson.
While at KGO, Ward produced an award-winning radio news series called 'Heaven Help Us,' that explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Ward lives in San Francisco and is married with four children.
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