A local Navy petty officer accused of possessing child pornography will remain in federal custody after a magistrate determined the defendant is a risk to children.
At a detention hearing today, prosecutors indicated that a grand jury could soon charge Navy Petty Officer 1st Class John Christian Ward with the more serious crime of producing child pornography.
In court documents, naval criminal investigators said they found more than 140 images of child porn on Google+ accounts linked to Ward's email.
Ward is a married father of two boys, lives near Kearny Mesa and is stationed at Naval Base San Diego.
He was arrested November 16 on a possession of child porn charge, and has been held without bond at the downtown federal jail.
Ward pleaded "not guilty" to the possession of child porn charge.
At Tuesday's detention hearing, the prosecutor said several photos found in Ward’s Google+ accounts could subject Ward to the child porn production charge, which is much more serious than possession.
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Ward’s attorney countered that even if Ward took those photos, most of them are not pornographic. All but one of the photos described by the prosecutor show pre-teen girls sitting on a couch, wearing “short-shorts,” with the camera zoomed in on the crotch area.
“It is possible to make out the outline of her genitalia through the shorts,” the criminal complaint states.
Another photo allegedly shows a sleeping child in a pink T-shirt, with her hand “resting on [a] male’s penis,” the complaint states.
The defense attorney did not address the prosecutor’s statement that that photo is pornographic.
But the attorney said Ward would agree to several court-ordered restrictions if allowed to post a $50,000 bond, with financial guarantees from his parents.
Ward would have to wear a GPS monitor and have another adult in the room with him at all times when children are present. Ward's attorney also said Ward could stay with a friend in Ocean Beach.
But the magistrate said Ward needs more supervision.
His lawyer said the military might allow Ward to stay at the naval barracks, with no access to a computer.
The magistrate agreed that that arrangement could work, and scheduled another detention hearing for December 12.
