WASHINGTON – Bernard V. Ward, 57, a San Francisco resident who previously worked as a radio station talk show host, was sentenced today to serve 87 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced.
On May 8, 2008, Ward pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography through the Internet. 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 admitted that he sent an image of child pornography depicting nude children engaged in sexually explicit conduct via his e-mail account. 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.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Steve Grocki, Jennifer Leonardo and Michael Yoon of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and investigated by the FBI.
###
08-758