by * » Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:08 am
<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/PhiladelphiaDailyNews/2006/08/29/1781872?ba=a&bi=6&bp=1">link</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Feds bust Wharton prof on child-porn charges</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>By WILL BUNCH | Aug 29, 2006 | 715 words, 0 images<br><br><br>A top professor who had been allowed to continue teaching at the Wharton School despite a string of lurid 1990s sex allegations was busted as he returned from Brazil this weekend by immigration officers who found child porn on his laptop.<br><br>L. Scott Ward, 63, a professor emeritus at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania business school, was nabbed after the federal immigration cops said they had found DVDs of Ward engaged in oral sex and other illicit acts with young boys.<br><br>In a ripped-from-the-headlines twist, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent said that Ward, who apparently lives in University City, had been pulled from the customs line at Dulles Airport in Dulles, Va., because of his frequent trips to Thailand. That nation's sex industry has become more notorious in recent days because of the high-profile arrest of John Mark Karr, now no longer facing charges in the JonBenet Ramsey case.<br><br>Ward, a nationally known marketing expert, faced a string of sex allegations during the 1990s that ended in 1999 with Ward receiving five years' probation for soliciting sex from an undercover state trooper who posed as a 15-year-old boy.<br><br>The sentence came after Ward entered what is known as an Alford plea, similar to pleading "no contest," with no admission of guilt. Bolstered by neighbors and colleagues who testified about his character, Ward continued to maintain he was innocent and remained on the faculty at Wharton.<br><br>News of these new charges is certain to generate controversy on the Ivy League campus. Last night, Wharton spokesman Peter Winicov said the school had no official comment and he doubted "there will be any tonight... if ever."<br><br>Ward is still in federal custody in Virginia, charged with violating federal child-pornography laws. Federal authorities said he was slated to face a detention hearing this morning in Alexandria.<br><br>Ward, an international expert in marketing high-tech products, says on his resume that he also has continued to serve as a consultant to some big-name corporations, including IBM and Microsoft. A former associate professor at Harvard Business School, Ward also lists experience as a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.<br><br>But it appears that one recent project - listed as "pro-bono consulting to micro-businesses in Brazil" on his resume - is tied to his newest run-in with the authorities.<br><br>ICE special agent Byron Bragg said in an affidavit that Ward arrived at Dulles, outside Washington, D.C., on a United Airlines flight from Brazil on Sunday morning and was pulled from a line at 7:25 a.m. because a Customs officer noted what Bragg called "excessive trips to Thailand... a well-known destination for people having sex with minors."<br><br>Upon further screening, a second officer found pictures of Ward posing on a beach with children, whom the professor claimed belonged to a girlfriend. When the officer found the laptop computer, Bragg said, "Ward hesitated and was reluctant to open his laptop but did so."<br><br>The second Customs officer found a video of children who appeared to be as young as age 8 engaging in sexual activity. More officers were called in and found mini-DVDs and a video recorder in Ward's luggage.<br><br>"At least 3 of the DVDs contained video of male minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct including oral sex, masturbation and the lascivious exhibition of the genitals," according to Bragg's affidavit. "The children in the video appear to be between 14 to 16 years old. Ward himself appears in all three of the mini DVD's and is engaging in sexual contact, including fellatio with the minors."<br><br>Ward was subsequently arrested, and his computer, video camera and DVDs were seized, as well as $3,126 in cash.<br><br>Ward's legal troubles started in 1993 with the state-police sting, which had been organized by detectives because of allegations that Ward - who lived in a 16-room mansion in Ardmore at the time - was paying to procure young boys from broken homes in Kensington.<br><br>That case was tried twice, before Ward agreed to probation and a $2,500 fine. While that case dragged on, a jury acquitted Ward in 1995 of allegations that he'd had oral sex with a 13-year-old Kensington street hustler in exchange for money, clothes and medical care.[/i]<br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>