Ward to Change "Not Guilty" Plea

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.

After Ward’s appearance tomorrow, he will have to report to the Probation Department, which will prepare a pre-sentencing report. He’ll have to return to court for sentencing at a later date.

Dean Johnson says, unless Ward and his attorney have been able to strike some extraordinary deal with prosecutors, the minimum prison sentence Ward will get under federal guidelines is 5 years in a federal institution. With credit for time served, Johnson says Ward will actually be in prison for more than 4 years. Once he gets out, he will have to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the rest of his life.

All this comes as we’re wrapping up our investigation into Ward’s time as a Catholic priest. We’ll have that story Thursday at 6 p.m., along with the latest from Federal Court.

*** UPDATE FROM DAN AT 12:02PM: KGO Radio is quoting an unnamed close friend of Ward: "Bernie has decided to plead guilty ... (he) says he decided to plead guilty on the advice of his attorneys." ***

Related Bernie Ward stories:

Inside Bernie Ward's online chats

Judge unseals indictment against Bernie Ward

I-Team blog: Bernie Ward and "Sexfairy"

I-Team blog: Ward fired -- for now

I-Team blog: Ward indicted on child porn

I-Team blog: Ward indictment unsealed

Comments

[Archangel]

If Mr. Ward wanted to do real research into hypocrisy particularly with his background in the Catholic Church then he might have asked what kind of man would molest young boys within the clergy of the Catholic Church?

Were they heterosexual or homosexual predators?

Why did the media not pursue this angle?

Watch how the meaning of words (homosexual) get redefined...

[Bergie]

I am tired of all of you leftists that want to protect perverts and murders. Bernie Ward should be locked up to protect the citizens. Otherwise, we the sheeple need to put some pressure on our legislators to allow the appropriate training for conceal and carry! As a practicing Catholic, I see and hear so many cases where priests and pastors get thrown in jail for preaching the real truth about Christianity! My bishop (in Madison) constantly gets berated from the elite left! San Francisco is no different than my crazy city that I reside in of Madison Wisconsin! We have crazy homeless wacko bums wandering around our city, that may be linked to the Marino and Zimmerman slayings. Our kooky leftists politicians want to blame our local law enforcement. They were never contacted by 911, which went against the MPD policy.

[Mike]

If I'm writing a book on drunk driving can I drive around drunk? If I'm writing a book on drugs can I buy, sell and do them. Of course not. It's still illegal book or not.

[MichaelSF]

Just for the record on those of you saying Noyes report is "tonight," it is tomorrow night, Thursday, May 8.

I too will be watching and recording. Noyes does a damn good job on those ITeam investigations.

I hope he didn't get too into his story like Bernie did. :)

Pisses me off how ABC keeps running the ad for the story. I want the info now, not later.

[MichaelSF]

Matt... I don't think there is a God in regards to what happened to Bernie, but for sure eventually all bad people get caught.

Sometimes it takes 20 to 30 years, but eventually what goes around comes around.

Sidenote: I don't care about most of what Bernie did, but chatting about his kids and fantasizing about sexual activity with them, the man needs to do some serious time for that, albeit that was not illegal I guess.

Society, and even San Francisco, does not tolerate child porn or pedophiles.

As a former prosecutor of sexual predators and other criminal sexual deviants I have seen a lot. It sickened me to read Bernie's chat room statements. So much so I stopped reading the stuff about 3/4ths into it.

I could not believe that a man who sounded so intelligent on the radio was the same person talking about his son and friend being naked in front of him, and his daughter being naked in front of all three.

I venture to say Bernie borders on being an evil person. I do not know all that Bernie has done in addition to chatting, that is why I say "borders."

Bonus Sidenote: Like another post said, I can't believe that his family stills stays under the same roof with him. If I knew my father was writing such stuff and had such thoughts, I'd kick him out. A loving family relationship can only go so far.

[kurt]

Bernie has a very ugly, dark side. He went on the air with some horrible speculation after the kidnapping, rape, and murder of young Polly Klaas. Convicted killer Richard Allen Davis said in court that Pollys last words were, "Please done do me like my dad did." Mark Klaas called Davis a lying piece of S&^% for making that comment. Than Bernie, on his radio show, speculated that Davis was telling the truth and the public was to quick to take Mark Klaas's side. I guess Bernie has perverted thoughts and feelings about his own kids and believes other people have them about their kids. :( Shame on him!

[Giovanni33]

Sounds like you are projecting, Kurt. Bernie is a great person, and he is only guilty of not using his best judgment in doing the right thing but in the wrong way. This case also shows how stupid that law is, not to take into consideration intent. Stupid law.

[Michael]

If we had less people like Bernie Ward and organizations like KGO backing him maybe we would not have had the molesting of young boys in the Catholic Church.

With people and organizations like this who needs demons?

[Former Bernie Fan]

I listened to and enjoyed Bernie for a long time. I did not always agree with him..but I listened. When this all came out, I was surprised to see his screen names listed...so I looked for him under those names on AOL. His court orders state that he not be on the computer unless it's for employment purposes. Well I wonder what part of his employment requires him to frequent the bimoms chat room in the gay and lesbian section of AOL? I have seen him in there not once but multiple times. I can only surmise that Bernie needs help and I hope the justice system gets him that help.

[Rowdy R.]

You SICK LIB'asterds!
All of you warped bernie defenders just wish it WOULD'VE/COULD'VE HAPPENED to a nicer guy, like a conservative/GOP member. This would really make you happy/gleefull huh?

But by wishing that then you are also wishing harm/danger to come to another child. YOU people are truly SICK!

The drunk driving analogy is spot on.

San FranSicko decribes the city BEST!!! The city was great when it was still conservative and went to SH1T in the 60's.

[Michael]

Bernie Ward: from Priest to Liberal Radio Host to Pedophile

http://www.urbanconservative.com/2008/02/21/bernie-ward-from-priest-to-liberal-radio-host-to-pedophile/

Or…maybe he’s been a pedophile since priesthood.

We live in such a great country where alleged criminals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. What a great criminal justice system we have, indeed! And then along comes this poor excuse of a human being Bernie Ward; a worthless parasite who fantasizes about having sex with his own kids. He and other vile scum bags like this are reasons why this law should be changed, specifically for crimes against children. Am I pissed? Hell yeah! I hate pedophiles with a passion!

And for those of you uninformed folks who have no idea who Bernie Ward is, here is a quick history lesson.

About 3 years ago, this repugnant swine, former priest and liberal talk show radio host Bernie Ward (screen name: Vincentlio) was chatting online with Linda Figueiro (screen name: Sexfairy2005). About an hour into the conversation, he sends her an image of two underage kids touching an adult “in a very sexual way”; along with detailed accounts about having sex with his own teenage children. See screenshots taken from The Smoking Gun. Caution: Selected transcripts after the jump - I’ve left in the key parts of the conversation, but edited out most of the overt nastiness.

Bernie Ward Transcripts
Portion of the Police Report

More Bernie Ward Transcripts
Transcripts of the Chat Session

More bernie Ward Transcripts
Transcripts of the Chat Session

Sexfairy2005 then called the police, and now this child-loving-overweight-filthy-descendant-of-abusive-elephant-spit has been indicted on federal child pornography charges. What is even more disturbing about these transcripts is that he is basically admitting that he WOULD molest a child, if given the opportunity. That alone constitutes a severe ass-whipin and a few years in prison with an oversized, grotesque cell mate in need of a bitch.

And of course, this deranged mass of human waste is claiming that he was doing research for a book. In fact, Ward’s lawyers claimed he was working on a book about hypocrisy in America. Apparently, he started the book in late 2004, after Bush won the presidency on a “morality” platform. He was supposedly trying to see if people who acted moral and righteous in public would change their behavior when cloaked in the anonymity of the Internet. Perhaps he was trying to expose the deep-dark secrets of the vast right with conspiracy.

And, yet this sub-human gargantuan swamp of bird droppings still has supporters:

Margo Magowan – Producer of his nightly show:

His listeners adore him; he has a very devoted audience. He’s always been a wonderful person to work with. And he is such a wonderful father. During commercial breaks, his kids would call him. Bernie would drop everything to solve whatever crisis came up, whether it was a homework problem or somebody locking themselves in the bathroom. Then he went back on air without missing a beat.

Wonderful father? I wonder what his 4 kids think about him having sexual fantasies about them and sharing them on the Internet.

Poncho Guevara (any relation to Che?), Executive Director of Sacred Heart Community Service in San Jose:

Our heart goes out to Bernie and his family. Bernie has been an incredible leader. His approach is not only to talk about what is broken in society, but to inspire people to fix it.

Susan Prather, founder and executive director of Fresh Start:

I think Bernie is one of a kind. He has a huge heart. He has never been cautious. Like many people he was ignorant of the law, he made a mistake and it is tragic. People who know him know that in no way is this Bernie Ward.

The sad thing about this is that there thousands of people like this all over the world who prey on children.

Technorati Tags: bernie ward, child pornography, indicted, liberal talk show host, vast right wing conspiracy, “bernie ward”, bernie ward and transcripts of emails, bernie ward blog, bernie ward feb. 21, 2008, bernie ward, february 2008

[Mark]

His explaination was plausible? He only violated the letter of the law? I have friends who are police, and they say, "The no. 1 defense to claims like this are 'I'm writing a book'... the 'Pete Townsend' defense." Please.

Further, how Ward turned Sunday's Godtalk into a few more hours of how "I hate George Bush" was just a poor judgement call by KGO management. It was highly negative and vile.

[brian]

So obvious that Giovanni 33 is Bernie Ward. No one else could be that stupid to still support that arrogant bully pervert.

[Marco Pervo]

"Mark Foley was a politician elected by the people who should have been able to be trusted. Instead he molested kids and because he's Republican, and a Bush Boy, like other Repubs who visited prostitutes, got away with it in front of the whole country."

What was proven is that Foley attempted to pick-up congressional aides who were of consenting age. Conservatives denounced him and did not try to excuse his behavior the way the posters on here are attempting to do with Bernie Ward.

[Charlie]

Hey "Giovanni!" If you're not Bernie then you're the guy he was waiting to blow at the Palm theater! btw...re: Larry Craig and Mark Foley, can you say ***"ADULTS"***??? I knew you could. re: Bernie Ward, can you say ***"CHILDREN"***, I knew you could!

[ysam]

This is a sad day, no matter where you stand on the issue..
Today, it seems there is no one you can truly trust.Not the elected officals, not the police, not,your pastor or priest, not even a teacher....
Where are the young children of today suppose to turn to for guidence, help, advice and to trust????
I dont know if Bernie Ward is guilty or not but once again..he like others was in a position of trust...
This is not the example we should be giving the kids that are growing up today..
No wonder this world sucks the way it does..
It "REALLY IS TIME TO LET GO AND LET GOD"!!..

[Jack P]

When he pleads guilty, the scum bag ought to be hung.

[kellysf]

I read the unedited transcript. Yes, it was offensive, but was it true? Do people always tell the truth in chat rooms? Granted, any photo of child porn is too many, but why did the feds wait five years to do anything about it? If Bernie pleads no contest and has to go to jail, he is sparing his family the humiliation and expense of a trial. The following phrase comes to mind, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

[Dcal2u]

I don't trust Dan Nois to not make something out of nothing. He spins too. He couldn't beat this thing so taking 5 instead of 18? humm don't know what I would do.

[ruth kaempf]

I couldn't help feeling a certain amount of glee when I first heard about Ward's arrest and what followed. After having listened to his shows for many years it gradually became clear that he was a vicious and vindictive individual. I finally stopped listening to him when, on one of his St. Anthony Thanksgiving shows, he gave out the name and PO Box address of someone who had sent him a critical note. Ward then encouraged his listeners to send nasty notes to the person. At the time I was surprised that he didn't get fired for this, but then the SS (socialist scum) of SF protects its own. Ward clearly thought too highly of himself and was arrogant enough to believe that he could do whatever his heart desired.

Good riddance, one less pervert in the SF Bay area on the loose.

Most of the commenters here are likely of the same ilk, hence the apologists for Ward's despicable actions.

Moreover, if his wife and his children are really still living under the same roof, that proves yet again how the perverts protect each other. Child protective services is known to only harass families that value tradition, and, horror, prefer to home school their children.

Lastly, if Ward were Republican, this whole sordid story would be finished because he would have rapidly been dispensed with and would sit in prison now.

[DK]

The difference between us Republicnas and you liberals is:

When one of ours does something wrong we call to get rid of them.

When of you libs do it, you applaud them.

Sick weirdos

[DK]

The difference between us Republicans and you liberals is:

When one of ours does something wrong, we call to get rid of them.

When of you libs do it, you applaud them.

Sick weirdos

[Debbie]

"Lastly, if Ward were Republican, this whole sordid story would be finished because he would have rapidly been dispensed with and would sit in prison now."

You are kidding, right?? This IS NOT a Dem or Rep issue. There are sickos on BOTH sides and if you deny that then you have the problem. Those of you who criticize S.F. and all it's people for this man's problem should be embarassed to show your narrow mindedness. How infitile. I am a Republican who happens to live in S.F. because it's a beautiful city with so much to do close by. I don't base my choice of places to live on who has a show on the radio but on many other things. Name calling by some of you only shows your ignorance and immaturity.

[Wyatt Burp]

Debbie, I agree. Calling people names is ignorant and immature. Even if they're referring to that fat baby raping, america loathing, slimy slab of sweaty celulite, Bernie Ward. So, people, let's keep it civil. O.K.?

[MichaelSF]

Dcal2u - It's Noyes, not Nois.

I disagree with your negative statement about Noyes. I have watched many of Dan's ITeam reports. I have NEVER seen him "spin" things as you say.

In fact, many of his reports lead to reforms or people acting on things where otherwise they would not. For example, he did that Muni story about nothing being done about crappy, rude and negligent bus drivers.

I never see him telling us anything but facts. He approaches things like a lawyer would. In fact, many times I ask myself questions during his stories and he answers them in the next statement.

Yeah, he puts some drama into aspects of his stories, but so do we lawyers. Otherwise the audience would die of boredom. I have never seen him "spin" something into something that it was not.

"Spin" has its origins from "spin straw into gold." That has been a compliment about one's abilities.