Lawrence Scott Ward

Overview

Lawrence Scott Ward was a 63-year-old professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, known for expertise on media effects on children. In August 2006, authorities disco…

Description

Lawrence Scott Ward was a 63-year-old professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, known for expertise on media effects on children. In August 2006, authorities discovered child pornography in his luggage and laptop computer when he arrived at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., on a flight from Brazil. A search of his office at Wharton’s Huntsman Hall uncovered over 80 images of Ward and a young boy (no older than 15) in intimate situations, with the boy featured in a series of pornographic DVDs found in Ward’s mail. Ward pleaded guilty on May 17, 2007 to producing child pornography for importation into the United States, receiving 15 years in prison and a $17,500 fine. On November 17, 2008, he pleaded guilty to all four Pennsylvania child pornography and sexual misconduct charges and received an additional 25-year sentence.