Ward Violated Bail, Lied To Feds

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 here, does not describe where Ward, 56, went on December 21, when officials discovered his bail violation.

During a subsequent court hearing, Ward admitted the monitoring violation and acknowledged giving 'false information to Pretrial Services regarding his whereabouts' when first confronted by federal agents. The government memo notes that Ward was 'strongly admonished' by James, who did not revoke his $250,000 bail package, which, among other things, limits his contact with children, imposes a curfew, and confines him to his home (except when he takes his children to and from school or when he goes to work).

Following his arrest, Ward was fired from his job at KGO Radio, though last week he told a pretrial services officer that 'there is still a chance' that he may be allowed to 'return to work in the near future.' (2 pages)