Ward surrenders to new sex charges

Additional sex charges were filed against Marketing Professor Scott Ward yesterday morning after he surrendered to Ardmore police. Ward turned himself in to authorities on charges that he had sexual contact with a 17-year-old male several times during 1990 and 1991. The Montgomery County District Attorney's office, which charged Ward October 1 with propositioning an undercover officer, yesterday charged the 50-year-old professor with an additional six crimes. Ward now also faces charges of statutory rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, indecent exposure, corruption of minors and criminal solicitation to commit prostitution. Ward was arraigned in front of Ardmore Judge Catherine Stine who set bail at $30,000, but later released Ward on his own recognizance. If the marketing professor is convicted of the most serious crime he is charged with – statutory rape – he would face a maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, said Assistant DA Christopher Maloney. But Maloney said Ward "should be most concerned with" the involuntary deviate sexual intercourse charge. If convicted of that crime, Ward faces a minimum sentence of a mandatory five year prison term, he said. Maloney added that all of Ward's charges, the original five charges plus the more recent six, will be consolidated and a preliminary hearing will be held October 22. At that hearing, a judge will rule whether the DA's office has sufficient evidence to continue the trial process. Maloney said his office is still searching through evidence recovered from Ward's Ardmore home and is also looking for additional victims. "I can't say that we expect more victims," he said, "but there is always the possibility." Ward's attorney, Jean Green, has failed to return numerous phone calls over the past several days. Ward was originally arrested October 1 after allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover state trooper posing as a 15-year-old boy. The marketing professor had been the target of a six-week investigation into alleged sexual deviant behavior. In a statement issued by the Wharton School yesterday, officials said that based on University policy, Ward may continue to teach throughout the "legal process." As of yesterday, the statement said his status as a professor is unchanged.