San Francisco- Former radio talk show host Bernie Ward today offered a federal judge in San Francisco a guilty plea to one count of sending child pornography over the Internet in December 2004.

But at the request of Ward’s defense lawyer, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker deferred accepting the plea until the question of whether Ward must immediately be taken to prison is resolved.

Walker will rule on that question at a sentencing hearing Aug. 28. Defense attorney Doron Weinberg said that meanwhile, Ward has tendered a guilty plea but the judge has taken under submission a decision on whether to accept the plea.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. Weinberg said he expects Ward to be in prison for at least four years.

Ward, 57, told the judge during the hearing that he was aware that the pornography he sent contained sexually explicit pictures of minors.

Ward, a former host on radio station KGO in San Francisco, was originally charged with two other counts of receiving and attempting to send child pornography in January 2005. Those charges will be dropped as part of the plea bargain.