Hope for Prisoner’s CEO has hearing delayed; attorney wants bail lowered

The CEO of Hope for Prisoners, Jon Ponder, 60, appeared before District Judge Kathleen Delaney in Clark County Detention Center custody on Monday as his indictment on charges including intersexual assault, first‑degree kidnapping, intersexual maltreatment of a captive by an worker or unpaid and unfastened or open gross lewdness proceeded, but the hearing at which he was expected to enter a ceremonial plea was delayed. His lawyer, Robert Draskovich, is asking the court to reduce Ponder’s bail from $1 million to the previous amount of $200 000. Ponder was indicted past week on the aforementioned counts. Authorities accuse him of sexually abusing prisoners at Casa Grande Transitional Housing and Jean Conservation Camp. A former bank robber pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020, Ponder built Hope for Prisoners into a program praised by Clark County law‑enforcement and judges as a vehicle for rehabilitating those convicted of crimes. He has since been placed on leave, and the organization did not respond to recent inquiries about his employment status. Before the Monday proceeding was called, attorneys stepped into the hallway to confer with Judge Delaney. Ponder sat with other inmates and examined a stack of papers. Delaney stated that, based on her discussions with counsel, it would be indispensable to postpone the hearing. Clark County’s judicial departments are numbered; specific Justice Court divisions handle most criminal matters before they move to corresponding District Court divisions. Draskovich said after court that prosecutors seek to assign the case according to Ponder’s original Justice Court department, a move defense attorneys oppose. Ponder’s case has repeatedly shifted among Justice Court divisions because of conflicts with certain judges, according to court records. Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani remarked, “My knowing is it should person gone to Judge (Ron) Israel oregon Judge (Bita) Yeager arsenic a effect of that,” Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said astatine a expansive assemblage instrumentality past week. “If that is incorrect, I’ll conscionable defer to the tribunal arsenic to wherever it should really track. We conscionable privation to marque definite we extremity up successful the close place.” Kierny noted previously that the matter involving self‑proclaimed “gorilla pimp” lawyer Gary Guymon last year followed a similar path from a reassigned Justice Court division, and she kept Ponder’s case before Judge Delaney. Read the full story at Las Vegas Review-Journal →