Wharton Prof. Pleads Guilty To Kiddie Porn

Yesterday, Wharton professor L. Scott Ward — who was “retired” but still had an office in posh Huntsman Hall and still taught classes — pled guilty to a federal charge of producing child pornography abroad, including videos where he had sex with a boy somewhere between 14 and 16 years old.

He faces between 15 and 30 years in prison. Ward hadn’t been convicted of screwing any underage boys when he became a professor at Wharton in 1980, though Penn still allowed him to continue teaching at Penn after a 1999 conviction for soliciting sex from a state trooper posing as a 15-year-old boy. That case wasn’t serious enough for Penn. But, hey, while at Penn Scott Ward was involved in projects in the Philippines and had a visiting appointment to Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

Penn did, however, get rid of two employees who were convicted sex offenders last month. And the school said it will re-examine its hiring practices. But since the other Ivy League schools don’t do background checks, Penn won’t be adopting that process anytime soon.

Eh, man. This is no fun. Can’t Milton Street say something funny and we can get back to hilarious news?

Penn professor pleads guilty to child pornography charge [Inquirer]
Penn eyes stricter hiring policies for faculty [Inquirer]
Sex-offender employees leave Penn [Daily Pennsylvanian]