Strip-club manager Welty faces Colorado extradition in sex case

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A former strip-club manager convicted of soliciting sex with a 9-year-old girl during an undercover police sting was released from jail this week after serving the first 100 days of his 270-day jail sentence.

But Ward Ryan Welty's legal troubles are far from over.

The former manager of Tropical Lei in Upland now faces an extradition effort from authorities in Fremont County, Colorado, where the online police sting against Welty originated.

Welty, 36, has been charged with five felonies in the rural county 100 miles south of Denver, and potentially faces a life prison sentence if convicted.

His defense attorney, Roger Diamond, argues that Welty, of Rancho Cucamonga, shouldn't be extradited to Colorado to face charges there because he has already been convicted locally for solicitation.

The prosecution in Colorado violates that state's double-jeopardy laws, Diamond said.

But according to San Bernardino County prosecutors, the local judge who rules on Welty's extradition case -- a hearing now set for Aug. 12 -- is unlikely to consider double-jeopardy issues in making a decision.

Deputy District Attorney Jason Anderson said the purpose of an extradition hearing is to determine whether a state's hold on a person is valid -- and he said Colorado's is, because Welty has an active criminal case there and has failed to appear.

Anderson said Diamond's double-jeopardy argument is "very premature," and should be considered by a Colorado court after Welty's extradition.

Welty was arrested in June 2008 after he traveled to Fremont County allegedly expecting to meet a 29-year-old woman who said she was willing to involve her 9-year-old daughter in sex.

The woman was actually an undercover police detective who posed as the fictitious mother in a Yahoo.com chat room as part of a police sting.

When San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives were notified of Welty's Colorado arrest, they served search warrants on his Rancho Cucamonga apartment, Tropical Lei and other locations.

Detectives found $60,000 in steroids in Welty's apartment they allege he was selling, as well as three child pornography images on his computers.

Welty pleaded guilty in West Valley Superior Court in February to three felony charges related to the steroids, illegal images and sex solicitation.

He was sentenced to 270 days in jail and five years' probation, and will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

On Wednesday, a West Valley Superior Court judge ruled that Welty, having completed 100 days in jail, is now eligible to complete the balance of his sentence on weekends or through home confinement.

Welty was released from custody at 12:03 a.m. Thursday after posting a $50,000 bail bond for his extradition case, according to online sheriff's department records.

Welty's father, Waldon Randall Welty, is the owner of Manta Management, the parent company of Tropical Lei, the Flesh Club in San Bernardino, and the Hawaii Theatre in the City of Industry.

In prior news accounts of the Flesh Club, Ward Ryan Welty was identified alternately as the owner or manager of the club.

Diamond has said Welty has no current role in has father's club.

For more information on Welty's case, read the initial story on his arrest, as well as an archive of stories on the case.