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Lion on the loose: Former San Francisco talk radio host Bernie Ward, who has spent the past seven years in federal prison for distributing child pornography online, was quietly freed Friday.

Child pornography conviction On September 20, 2007,Bernie Ward was indicted by a grand jury on two federal counts of Attempting to Distribute and one count of Receiving child pornography via the internet from December 2004 to January 2005. The police investigation of Ward originated with a complaint from a Stanislaus County homemaker who was posing online as a dominatrix under the screen name "Sexfairy2005" and who had engaged in online chats with Ward According to the police report, Ward sent pornographic images of children to the chat partner, which caused her to contact police. The police began collecting evidence with...

The Supreme Court is still pondering whether to permit fleeting expletives on the airwaves, but a San Francisco radio station isn’t waiting for the decision. A host on San Francisco’s top-rated KGO told his fans Tuesday that the station had fired him over comments he made a few days before the election about Joe Wurzelbacher, the suddenly famous unlicensed plumber who got caught up in the candidates’ tax policy debates

KGO San Francisco Radio host Charles Karel Bouley (aka Karel) who, according to Wiki..., once played an audio of 'Ding-dong the Witch is Dead' as a 'tribute' to President Reagan upon his death and who wrote in a March 2007 article at the Huffington Post that White House spokesman Tony Snow's daily 'lying to the American people' caused his cancer, wants 'Joe the Plumber dead. During the 11-01-08 9PM Saturday broadcast of ABC national news, Karel, the local host can be heard over-talking the national news broadcast stating: "F*** GD Joe the GD Plumber!" "F*** him. F*** him." "I want...

A San Francisco radio host billed by his station as the "Lion of the Left" was sentenced yesterday to seven years of prison on a charge of e-mailing images of child pornography. Bernie Ward, a former Catholic priest who is now married with four children, hosted a Sunday radio program called "God Talk" on San Francisco-area radio station KGO-AM 810 and another program on weeknights devoted to news and politics. According to several reports, Ward earned his "Lion of the Left" nickname for his outspoken and staunchly liberal viewpoints. Ward came under FBI investigation last year after a woman with...

SAN FRANCISCO – Bernie Ward, the popular radio talk-show host disgraced by federal child-pornography charges, was sentenced Thursday to seven years and two months in prison. Ward, who is married and has four children, was fired in December 2007 from KGO-AM in San Francisco after a grand jury indictment accused him of actively uploading and sharing images of child pornography on the Internet. His KGO-AM shows included the Sunday morning “God Talk” program.“I feel very sorry for you and your family,” Judge Vaughn Walker told Ward. The judge said he was troubled by Ward’s hypocrisy — while the former priest...

With his sobbing family looking on in a San Francisco courtroom, former KGO radio host Bernie Ward today completed his tumble from one of the Bay Area's most popular liberal voices on the local airwaves to a pariah caught up in the world of online child pornography. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker sentenced Ward to seven years and three months in federal prison, calling the disgraced celebrity a "troubled individual'' whose downfall is a "personal tragedy.'' Ward now must turn himself in to U.S. Marshals by noon Friday to begin his prison term.

Radical Liberal Radio Host Bernie Ward was sentenced to 87 months in prison for possesion and distribution of child porn. The information was just blogged on the KGO website by one of their reporters. You can read more about the case at the website.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors are recommending a nine-year prison sentence for Bernie Ward, the liberal radio talk show host who pleaded guilty in May to distributing child pornography. Ward, 57, a former Roman Catholic priest, spent 24 years with KGO-AM in San Francisco, as a reporter and later as the host of a talk show that ran three hours every weeknight. The station fired him in December after his federal grand jury indictment was unsealed. Ward was charged with two counts of distributing and one count of receiving Internet images of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to one charge...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- We're finally hearing from the woman at the center of the child pornography case against former KGO Radio host Bernie Ward. Until now, you haven't seen her face and didn't know much about her except that she went by the screen name "Sexfairy" and called police when Ward sent her child porn. Please note: Understand that before reading this story or watching the interview that the topic is graphic and may be disturbing to some.

Cardinal Newman High School officials said Friday they were surprised to hear that former KGO Radio talk show host Bernie Ward allegedly had sexual contact with two Ursuline High School students while he was a priest teaching at the schools.Ward, who pleaded guilty Thursday to distributing child pornography over the Internet, was the subject of a KGO-TV, ABC Channel 7, report Thursday.

(05-08) 18:49 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Ward, the most prominent liberal voice on Bay Area talk radio for more than two decades, admitted Thursday to distribution of child pornography by e-mail in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years. Ward, 57, a former Roman Catholic priest, was a fixture on KGO-AM 810 for three hours every weeknight, known in recent years for his fervent denunciations of President Bush and the war in Iraq during his news talk show. He also hosted "God Talk," a Sunday morning program on religion, and was...

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...

One of the more conspicuous silences during the whole Bernie Ward saga has been coming from KGO-Radio (810 AM), his longtime employer. Long the Bay Area's ratings king, the news-talk station has -- on the advice of its corporate parent Citadel Broadcasting says KGO president and general manager Mickey Luckoff -- suggested that its on-air talent not talk about Bernie. Not yet. "It wasn't an edict," Luckoff said Thursday, moments after Ward changed his plea to guilty to distributing child porn. "We have never, ever put restrictions on anybody here. We have never put an embargo on what people could...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Former KGO Radio talk show host, Bernie Ward, pleaded guilty this afternoon to one count of distribution of child pornography.

SAN FRANCISCO -- 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. Instead,...

San Francisco -- Former radio talk show host Bernie Ward, who pleaded not guilty in December to distributing and receiving child pornography via the Internet, plans to change his plea Thursday, federal court records show. Ward, 57, is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco to change his plea. He is a month away from going on trial. Ward's attorney, Doron Weinberg, was unavailable for comment Tuesday night. The case against Ward began when he engaged in sex chats with an online dominatrix and allegedly sent her pictures of children engaged in sexual activity, according...

Sacramento talk radio is all but dead. Or maybe just born again. KSAC (1240 AM) found religion last month when it switched from a progressive talk format to hip-hop gospel, complete with a new set of call letters, KRJY Rejoice 1240. There are now only two local political shows remaining: Bruce Maiman hosts a program, with a moderate focus, weeknights on KFBK; and over at KTKZ, conservative Eric Hogue holds court every weekday at noon. What does this mean for Sacramento? Is KSAC's switch just another business-as-usual programming blip on an ever-changing radio radar? Or does the switch signal a...

MARCH 5--The San Francisco radio host facing child pornography charges lied to federal officials about his whereabouts after investigators recently received an alert that he had violated his "electronic monitoring schedule." Bernard Ward's bail violations are mentioned in a February 28 "status memorandum" sent by a pretrial services officer to Judge Maria Elena James (the memo provided James with an account of Ward's first months under electronic monitoring). The document, a copy of which you'll find below, does not describe where Ward, 56, went on December 21, when officials discovered his bail violation. During a subsequent court hearing, Ward admitted...

The federal child-pornography charges filed against former radio talk show host Bernie Ward came about after he engaged in sex chats with an online dominatrix and allegedly sent her pictures of children engaged in sexual activity, according to a police report released Friday. The woman, who lives in Oakdale (Stanislaus County), became concerned after Ward allegedly sent her pictures in December 2004 showing children "engaged in or simulating sexual acts with adults or other children," Oakdale police Officer Benjamin Savage wrote in a report. An America Online chat-room user by the name of Vincentlio engaged in sexually explicit chats with...