DA says prof paid for sex with youths

10 years of encounters alleged An informant told Montgomery County detectives that he located young, white teenage boys to have sex for money with Marketing Professor Scott Ward on five different occasions over the past 10 years, the Montgomery County District Attorney's office said. Ward was the target of a six-week investigation into alleged prostitution activities that ended Friday night when he was arrested for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover state trooper posing as a 15-year-old boy. Ward was arraigned and charged with numerous crimes including criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, criminal solicitation to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, criminal attempt to commit corruption of minors, prostitution and criminal attempt to commit prostitution. Ward was later released on $50,000 bail. Ward has denied the charges. Ward and his attorney, Jean Green, were unavailable for comment yesterday but the Wharton School has issued a written statement concerning the charges. "The Wharton School is aware of the charges brought against Scott Ward," the statement read. "The school and the University's legal counsel are currently gathering relevant information about the case. Based on University policy, he will be able to continue his academic responsibilities during the legal process." It is not clear whether the two courses he is teaching this semester will be canceled. A statement issued by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office outlines the undercover operation and Ward's alleged deviant sexual behavior. The statement was released at a press conference yesterday at the Montgomery courthouse in nearby Norristown. According to the statement, the informant told police that Ward would regularly invite the boys back to his Ardmore home where he would allegedly coax the teens into having sex with him. Friday's undercover operation began when the informant telephoned Ward and told him he had located a boy that fit his profile. The boy was actually 23-year-old Pennsylvania State Trooper Sean McMahon, who was working undercover as part of the sting. As the police monitored the phone call, Ward asked the informant to arrange a meeting between the boy and himself. The informant then left a message at Ward's residence to meet the boy at the Ardmore train station at 7:09 p.m. The police thought the plan was working perfectly until they realized Ward had instead gone to 30th Street Station to meet the boy. "Eventually a message [to meet at Ardmore] gets relayed to Ward and Ward comes back," Bruce Castor Jr., the deputy district attorney of Montgomery County, said in an interview. "Meanwhile, I knew that we couldn't have our undercover agent standing on the train platform for two hours. That's unrealistic. So we shifted him over to Roy Rogers, two blocks away, and had him wait there." Finally, at 10:40 p.m., Ward arrived at the Roy Rogers on Lancaster Avenue and met McMahon, who was dressed like a typical 15-year-old boy in blue-jeans, white T-shirt, blue button down shirt, denim jacket and Eagles cap. Ward and McMahon proceeded to get into Ward's car and drive to Ward's home in Ardmore, according to the D.A.'s statement. Once in Ward's house, Ward questioned McMahon about his age and told McMahon he was bisexual and liked sex, the statement continued. Ward asked if McMahon liked sex too and told him he could make a lot of money. Ward also said he wanted to get to know McMahon and that he was not like other people that McMahon may have "hustled" downtown. Finally, Ward invited the undercover trooper to spend the night at his house. After soliciting McMahon for sex, Ward was arrested in his home by county detectives, the statement said. The informant also told police that Ward has kept computer records about the boys with whom he has allegedly had contact, the statement said. The police have searched Ward's residence and secured these files, but Castor said he has no specific information about the files. "We found incriminating evidence," he said. "But we haven't sorted through it all." The police have also learned that Ward frequents Southeast Asian countries and that Ward recently returned from a summer trip in Thailand. According to the statement, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent told Montgomery County Detective Katharine Hart that many pedophiles travel to Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, in order to obtain boy lovers. "We know that he goes to Thailand to engage in the act [of sex with boys]," Castor said. In 1987, Ward was a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, according to the Wharton School's 1988-89 Guide to Faculty. Castor said yesterday Ward could have had sex with more boys than the five which police learned about from the informant. Castor believes Ward could have had more than one person organizing meetings with young boys. Ward, who has been at the University since 1979, has held a Board of Advisors position on the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the National Council of Better Business Bureau in New York from 1984-1988. He also published a number of papers including "Advertising and Children: A Cross-Cultural Study" and "Four Marketing Mistakes." In 1988, he was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award by the Wharton Graduate Division. According to the fall 1993 course and room roster, this semester Ward is teaching three sections of marketing 621 – a graduate marketing management class – and one section of marketing 890 – a graduate student seminar. Ward is entitled to continue teaching, but Wharton officials would not say whether his classes would be cancelled.