Bernie Ward Pleads “Guilty”

“I engaged in exchanging an image of a minor engaging in sexually explicit activity.”

With those words, Bernie Ward pleaded guilty today to one count, distribution of child pornography in a deal worked out with federal prosecutors. But, the deal only goes so far – it merely allows Ward to drop two of the three counts. He still could face up to 20 years in prison, and the minimum sentence allowed under federal guidelines is 5 years. The maximum fine is $250,000. The judge granted one defense request – he agreed not to accept Ward’s plea until the sentencing date on August 28th. Otherwise, Ward would have been taken into custody today. Defense attorney Doron Weinberg told the judge arrangements had to be made because of Ward’s health – he’s a diabetic who uses a machine at night to combat severe sleep apnea. Weinberg also said Ward wanted to attend the high school graduation of his youngest of four children.

About the crime, Weinberg told the judge, “We believe it resulted from an error of judgment, not sexual proclivities.” All along, Ward claimed he traded child pornography as part of research for a book. Inside court, I thought that Bernie Ward was remarkably composed. He chatted with his friends and supporters. Two monks in brown robes sat in the row with him. Ward appeared to have lost some weight, and sported a well-fitting suit. He answered the judge calmly.

*** NEW INFO: I wanted to give you a passage from the Department of Justice Press Release on the case. "According to the plea documents, Ward admitted that in December 2004, he used an online screen name to engage in an internet chat conversation with an unknown individual also using a screen name. During that conversation, Ward sent an image of child pornography depicting nude children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Ward also admitted that he used the same e-mail account to distribute 15 to 150 images of child pornography to other individuals. These images involved prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, some with sadistic, masochistic or violent conduct." ***

On the way out of the federal court building, I faced a difficult situation – what do you ask someone who just pleaded guilty to this crime? Not just any defendant. He was a fellow investigative reporter who covered the crisis in the Catholic Church, as did I. We worked out of the same building, albeit for different companies for the past year. I appeared on his show a few times to discuss my investigations. What could I ask him? The best I could come up with: “Bernie, any thoughts for us?” I think his answer would surprise many of his former listeners: “No.” I’d bet good money we’ll hear him as a guest on KGO radio, at some point this summer.

About tonight's investigation – I explore the conditions under which Bernie Ward left the priesthood. "Father Bernie" played a central role in his on-air persona, especially on his Sunday morning program "God Talk". I've confirmed two complaints against Ward for sexual misconduct when he was a 27-year-old priest. The two alleged victims were sixteen and seventeen-year-old students at Santa Rosa's Ursuline High School, where Ward taught. His lawyer says he was cleared of all allegations, and left the priesthood on his own.

Comments

[TJ]

Ahhhhh, if only Bernie was living in Medieval Europe, and able to "buy" induglences.... Yesss.... Those were the Days !!!

[juan]

Now you are going to tell me that he is guilty of getting caught? Isn't that what you guys said about Clinton too? You are delusional.

Btw if you believe this guy's argument, I'm the heir to the throne of a small African nation and need you bank account number to transfer my fortune to it.

[Bone Machine]

Giovanni33, your continued attempts to defend the indefensible Bernie Ward just keep growing more laughable. Most of the other rats have already fled Ward's sinking ship, but you just keep soldiering on.

You want to know why there is no "research" exemption for trading child porn? The answer has been stated over and over, but apparently it hasn't sunk in with you, yet. If Ward is able to claim he is just doing "research" with kiddie porn, then every single person arrested for the same thing will cry, "research!" You see, we don't license journalists in this country. Anyone can start a blog and call themselves a journalist or a writer. That means anyone could simply label himself a journalist and claim he was just researching the subject. That's why there are no exemptions to the kiddie porn law, other than a law enforcement officer investigating a case.

You know, your attempts to mitigate Ward's behavior are predicated on one thing: you take everything Ward says as the absolute truth. You say he was just doing "research" when he traded up to 150 child porn pictures. Why? Because he said so. You say he was just "role-playing" when he went into graphic detail about his own children and their friends. Why? Because he said so. You are a defense attorney's dream juror. You buy every single piece of garbage Ward throws out just because, as you said, "He was against the jingoistic reaction following 9/11." Pathetic.

By the way, when a researcher tests ricin in a laboratory, he is not furthering the sexual exploitation of children. That's where your analogy falls apart. If Ward was trading 150 pictures of your children, I doubt you'd be grasping at straws like your little ricin analogy. And hopefully, you wouldn't try to minimize it by saying, "150 pictures is not a lot."

[Giovanni33]

He is guilty of conduct that is reckless and unwise, and availed himself to legal risk, which unfortunately occurred. The way this law is being applied in this case is stupid. It needs to be changed to allow for intent.

[Giovanni33]

Bone,

You would be right except for one important fact. Bernie was not pretending to be a professional investigative journalist. He did not simply create a blog, as an amateur, and claim to be a journalist. He was a professional, employed as one, and that was his career. This is the exception, and this is the evidence to support his claim of research. Some Joe with a blog claiming to be the same does not stand up, and would not be a valid defense. Bernie clearly does not fall in this category. He is a genuine professional investigative journalist, and no one questions that. So this is a legitimate defense in his case, pending details of his defense supporting this claim. Unfortunately the law makes no room for intent. So even if what I say and what Bernie say is 100% true--the law says "Guilty" nonetheless, and gives him 5 years in prison. This is wrong.

[juan]

Hey I have an idea!! why aren't we all journalists??? That way we can do anything and get away with it by saying we were doing it in the name of reeeeeeesearch...

[Giovanni33]

No, we are not all professional journalists. Bernie was a one, though. That doesn't give him an excuse given the present state of the laws, but it does give credence to his story. He WAS a REAL professional investigative journalist. This is fact that has weight to it.

[Bone Machine]

Giovanni33,
Being employed by a media outlet makes you no more of a journalist than a kid starting his own paper for no pay. Both are covered by the same First Amendment. It all goes back to the fact that we don't license journalists. Anyone, and I mean anyone, and be a journalist. You don't have to go to school for it; that's why you'll find English, poli sci, and communications majors in news rooms all over the country. You also don't have to be licensed or paid to be a journalist. You may recognize a difference between a published professional talk show host and Joe Nobody with a blog no one reads, but the law makes no such distinction. You can keep wishing for a research exemption, but it's not going to happen. Ward got caught trading child porn, and now he's going to pay for it.

[Giovanni33]

Ward has received the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Journalism for his investigative journalism in a ten-part series, Heaven Help Us, which explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He has also won numerous national awards, such as an Associated Press award for coverage of the Los Angeles riots of 1992. I say this gives him some standing as a recognized professional in the field. Its a case by case basis, but the evidence here supports Bernie, and thus an exception should be a possibility for real researchers. Not everyone is the same, so should not be treated under one broad, sweeping legal brush.

[Iam God]

so Bernie was let go because he isn't a "threat to the community"? This from someone who claims to be a lawyer? Let me see-if the only thing a man wanted to do was kill his wife and children, after he kills them-he's not a threat to the community either..

Bernie Ward needs to get raped in jail for 20 years....Piece of shit...

[KLau]

Giovanni 3:3, Good to see you finally made it to this forum. I was worried about you for a while.
Thought perhaps the events of the day had taken a toll on you.
But not so......your keen thinking and rapier like justifications are as shape as ever.
BTW, loved the tie.

[Giovanni33]

Iam God,

Your inhumanity and your advocacy of violent crime against another human being is far worse than anything Bernie ever did. So think he should go to jail for this digital/virtual crime, yet you are embracing a far worse crime: multiple raping. And, you have the nerve to pass moral judgment on Bernie? Please.

[KLau]

Giovanni 3:3, You know, I do have one real concern about Bernie.
Sure, he deserves to do some time although I'm not a fan of 4.3 more years after August (9 months for his house arrest credit)
I'd feel 9 months house arrest plus another 15 in custody max would be adequate for a total of 24 months.

But seriously, that man looks ill.
He must be well over 300 to 325 and only about 5'10" tall. Already has diabetes, probably Type-2.....and serious sleep apnea. Uses a CPAP machine to keep breathing.
There must be serious concern as to whether he could even last the potential 9 years. He'll probably get 5 to 6 total with time served at home counted. In custody, no exercise and poor food.

I hate to say this, but I have some fear he may not last past the August sentencing. All the weight, the diabetes, and apnea, along with the huge stress of going to prison. Well even if guilty I don't want it to be a life sentence due to illness.

Oh the other hand, your position is one of complete denial.
Tell me Giovanni 3:3, what about those high school girls.
Do you doubt they're telling the truth? Why would they come forth and lie. NO, they are truthful but Bernie's lawyer issued a statement saying it was completely untrue.
I think he had to do that in light of the sentencing to come. Prior conduct counts.

Oh well, Take care, I read your reply in the morning.

[Wyatt Burp]

Gio33, Remember poor Dan White, that selfless community organizer (just like Obama) and public servant who got railroaded into jail in SF back in the 70's? He was doing reserch for a book about the effect of 38 caliber slugs on liberals. And they threw the book at him!
Think he got 5 years or so. Don't you think Bernie's mandatory sentence is fair since he committed a far worse crime than Dan White?

[MichaelSF]

I am in a hurry so I will paste my post from the other blogs. Pardon for the copy/paste.

_______________

I guess some get perverse deviant pleasure from posting on all these blogs and watching people react.

Sorry, your 15 minutes of "blog regionalette" fame is over.

Maybe Bernie's lawyers are the posters on here, doing some jury or sentencing research on the cheap, checking to see what defenses or excuses fan the flames, which excuses or explanations a judge might buy.

I have to admit it has been amusing to watch all the defenses shift from "Hey, it was only one picture" to "Hey, it was only 150 pics, probably in zip file, so that has to be taken into account."

[Brian]

So obvious that Giovanni 33 is Bernie Ward, that pathetic arrogant pervert. All those years of his pompous bullying of anyone who had a different opinion than him...it finally caught up to him. Even KGO radio & tv personalities are speaking out against him. Now we wait and see what strings his buddy Barbara Boxer will pull.

[scott]

Giovanna33-How do you rationalize the fantisizing of having sex with his children? This is normal behavior to you? These are the thoughts of a healthy mind? I have no doubt you are a pedophile also.

[Mark Dias]

I wrote on my Blog about Bernie.
What amazed me is how many people thought it was a conspiracy from the Bush administration.

It starts like this

Bernie Ward, a corpulent obese and obstreperous blowhard especially enjoyed his strident diatribes against the Bush administration, the conservative and especially the fundamental Christian. He even started his own church on his show "God Talk" thinking it droll and called it, "the Church of the Holy Donut"

You can continue reading it by checking here

http://mark24609.blogspot.com/2008/05/bernie-ward-blowhard-of-left.html

[Professor Pat]

The reason Bernie looked so "composed" in the courtroom is that he has finally come to accept that the only way he can be redeemed is to heed the call of the bridge....jump jabba....jump...

[weinernation101]

I think that this Giovanni33 should probably be investigated just from the remarks that he or she has made. Obvously there is some type of mental disorder there. Perhaps he or she is an extreme liberal.

[jim]

GUILTY
You cant BS "talk" your way out of this one. Maybe the SF libs can hold a candlelight vigil for this pervert. Failed priest, radio host, family man.

[Charlie]

"Hanging judge" my A$$!!! 'Bout the only thing the so-called "judge" DIDN'T do is come down from his bench and give Bernie a BLOW JOB!

[Giovanni33]

How do you know what Bernie was really thinking when he wrote that? You don't. Again, in the context of a role play, of acting, of playing a part, we accept that what one says in terms of a performance is not attributable to their own real mental state. If we did that then many actors would be in jail. This is a free speech issue. Bernie has a right to put himself into the shoes of a sick person and act out the role on the internet. That is not crime. It makes sense he would do that to be convincing. Also, actors frequently interject real people from their real life into their acting as it makes them more effective. Even when we make up stuff its based in some reality and experience we've had. This goes back to Locke and "impressions."

Bernie should be given the benefit of the doubt, as he has evidence with supports this interpretation of the facts. The law should take into account intent, and its sentencing should be adjusted accordingly.

[Giovanni33]

We need to organize a FREE BERNIE NOW movement. Bernie does need some help, esp. for his health--and this hanging over his head for years does take its toll too. We should all help Bernie. Jail is not going to do that.

[Charlie]

Yeah Bern...er...Giovanni! You go right ahead. You only got a prime time job at KGO because Duane Garrett jumped off the bridge! Being the fat load you are, why don't you "go green"...do something for the environment AND the gene pool and FOLLOW him!
Meanwhile, how about the two high school girls you diddled!?
******************
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As expected, former KGO Radio talk show host Bernie Ward pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of distributing child pornography. Ward did not comment as he left the federal courthouse in San Francisco Thursday afternoon, but he did, though, admit to a judge that he sent a sexually-explicit image of a child over the Internet. After his arrest in December, Ward claimed he was researching a book.

The judge agreed to hold off on accepting Ward's plea until his sentencing in August. That's so Ward can attend his son's high school graduation. He faces a minimum of five-years in federal prison.
The ABC7 I-Team has been following this case and exploring Ward's time as a Catholic priest.
Story continues belowAdvertisement
It's the same old story -- Catholic priest gets in trouble for complaints of sexual activity with minors. Only this time, it's Bernie Ward.
Ward often discussed his time as a Catholic priest during his weeknight KGO Radio show and his Sunday morning program, "God Talk." However, he never told the complete story of what happened when he was Father Bernie.
The I-Team's been able to piece it together by interviewing people who lived with him, his superiors in the church and his former students.
"Drinking was, that was the thing you did, you got ripped," said Tom Finn who lived at Cardinal Newman High School.
"He appeared to be a good priest at the time and all of a sudden, it kind of went downhill," said Father Tony Latorre, former vice principal at Cardinal Newman High School.
Dan Noyes: "You told me that you believe he's a predator. you believe that?"
Rosanne Schwab (former student): "Yes, definitely."
Rosanne Schwab was the junior class president at Santa Rosa's Ursuline High, the sister school to Cardinal Newman, right next door.
She remembers when a young, hip priest arrived -- Father Bernie Ward.
"He was very funny and fun-loving and probably the most popular priest on campus," says Schwab.
Ward taught religion at both schools, coached the JV football team, and gained a reputation for flirting with teenage girls, even though he was 27 and a priest. In the spring of 1978, it apparently went beyond flirtation.
Father Tony Latorre was Cardinal Newman's vice principal at the time.
"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.
Schwab says it went on for several minutes before she could push Father Bernie away, and that he scolded her.
"He said, 'I am really disappointed in you. I thought that you were mature, I thought that you were special,'" says Schwab.
The second complaint comes from another former student who tells us that when she was 16, Ward drove her to San Francisco for a prayer meeting. On the way back, they stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge and he pulled out a six-pack of Heineken. She says when Father Bernie tried to kiss her, she punched him in the stomach.
When that girl told her parents they demanded a meeting with the principal of Cardinal Newman at the time, Father Bill Finn. Rosanne Schwab and her parents also came.
"With Bernie and parents and Principal Father Finn, I do recall such a meeting," says Schwab.
The girls' account of what happened angered Father Finn. After all, he was Bernie Ward's mentor.
Finn's brother also lived in Cardinal Newman's faculty house and he clearly recalls their conversation.
"'That damn Bernie.' I said, 'What, what with Bernie?' He says, 'He got caught in a sex thing with this girl from Ursuline,'" recalls Tom Finn, the principal's brother.
Father Bill Finn died eight years ago, but the I-Team knew him well. After his tenure at Cardinal Newman, Finn became a vocal critic of the church's handling of priests who sexually abuse children.
"I think that it could have perhaps addressed it in a much more expeditious fashion and I wish it had. Perhaps we'd have a lot fewer victims out there today," said Father Bill Finn in an interview with ABC7 back in November of 1994.
Father Finn helped with several of our investigations, including one in 1995 that ended with a prison sentence for Santa Rosa priest Gary Timmons.
Now, Father Finn's brother says he has to speak out about Bernie Ward.
"Bill is -- one of the reasons I'm talking to you is Bill was so not a hypocrite, that if I kept this to myself, he'd be bothering me, no matter who it is. Bill was that way," says Tom Finn.
We don't know for sure if Ward left the priesthood on his own or was forced out. He served under the Society of the Precious Blood and officials at the headquarters in Ohio tell us they checked Ward's file and found no information about sexual misconduct.
Through his lawyer, Ward declined to be interviewed for this report. But after speaking with Ward, attorney Doron Weinberg sent the I-Team a letter on Monday saying, "the allegations are completely false" ... that they "could have a negative impact on the federal prosecution currently pending against Mr. Ward."
Former prosecutor and ABC7 legal analyst, Dean Johnson, agrees.
"The existence of this prior conduct becomes a huge deterrent to the defendant getting on the stand and completely hamstrings his defense attorneys," says Johnson.
Ward's guilty plea brings some comfort to Schwab. She says it's important for people to know that someone who criticized the Catholic church for so long on the radio had his own complaints of misconduct when he was a priest.
"Too many people have gotten away with this stuff. I am trying to heal and I think that this is good for me because I know that I am a strong person and I know that I have a lot of courage," says Schwab.
Ward is due back in court for sentencing in August. We'll keep track of what happens and get back to you.