Former Marketing professor Scott Ward was indicted last Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on one count of making false statements to the State Department and two counts of transporting and shipping child pornography.
He is already serving a 15-year sentence for producing child pornography for importation into the United States. Ward, 65, pleaded guilty to that charge last year in federal court in Virginia.
He was arrested at Dulles International Airport in August 2006, when customs officials found sexually explicit images of a 16-year-old boy on Ward's laptop and on DVD's during a routine luggage check.
If convicted of the latest charges, Ward faces a mandatory sentence of 15 to 45 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $750,000 and $300 in other charges, according to the indictment filed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan.
Ward had a house in Fortaleza, Brazil, where he reportedly met the victim and the victim's family. He allegedly persuaded the victim to participate in sexual activities by giving gifts and money to the boy and his mother, who are described as "destitute" in the indictment.
During the summer of 2006, Ward attempted to secure a visa so the victim and his family could travel to Ward's house on Cape Cod, Mass. The State Department originally denied the visa, fearing the boy and his family would attempt to stay in the United States.
According to Meehan, "There was an effort to have pictures taken of a[n upscale] home, have bank accounts set up, as indicia of relative wealth," in an attempt to convince the State Department that the family was "relatively wealthy by Brazilian standards," as Ward put it in e-mails to a contact in Recife, Brazil.
Ward was able to successfully deceive government officials, and the visa was granted the same week Ward was arrested at Dulles, though it is unclear if the boy ever entered the United States.
Ward will most likely be arraigned in the next several weeks.
He must forfeit any pornographic images of minors and any property either bought with proceeds from the sale of such images or used to create the images.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bea Witzleben, who is prosecuting the case, said Ward is not charged with the sale or distribution of child pornography, but it is standard procedure to include a "notice of forfeiture" in this type of case.
"It's not unfair to say that there is a market for these kinds of images, and those who are in this often make these images for their own perverse enjoyment and trade them with others," Meehan said.
Witzleben said she did not think Ward had obtained a lawyer as of yet. Ward's lawyer for the Virginia case did not return a phone call for comment.
Ward retired from Penn in 2005 but taught until shortly after his arrest.
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