The woman who sent KGO radio host Bernie Ward's career and reputation into freefall is thirty-three-year-old mother of three Linda Figueiredo. She also goes by the online moniker "Sexfairy," or more intimately, "Mistress". Ward and Figueiredo developed an online relationship in 2004, which hit a pocket of turbulence after Ward sent his "Mistress" some juicy yet hardly-legal child pornography. Dan Noyes refreshes out memory thusly:
...it’s clear Ward and Figueiredo already had a relationship – he calls her "mistress", she calls him "slave". Ward looks to Figueiredo for approval and direction. (Ward’s lawyers argue he was role-playing as part of research for a book.) From the transcript, it’s Ward who brings up the issue of pictures, and he does so after nearly an hour of discussion about his own desires, fantasies and experiences. Ward uses the screen name "Vincentlio": "I love trading pictures." Figueiredo as "Sexfairy" answers, "And why haven't I gotten any pics, slave? Send me some."Ward sends several pictures – one of a woman and two children. Ward describes her as a mother in her late thirties, she's topless. He says the naked boy is 14, that the girl wearing clothes is 12. They're all touching in a sexual way. "Sexfairy" writes, "brb" – be right back. A half hour later, she's on the phone with police.
Figueiredo refused an interview from Noyes, claiming she’s been asked not to talk to the media until the case ends. We look forward to hearing from Mistress as soon as possible.