Hope for Prisoners board was advised to fire Ponder in 2020, letter confirms

The revelation comes from a Sept. 2020 resignation letter submitted to the board by then-Hope for Prisoners board member Kristina Wildeveld, a Las Vegas attorney who assisted Ponder with his state pardon and applied for his federal pardon following Trump’s visit to an HFP graduation in the spring of 2020. 

According to Wildeveld, the board, which included Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who was undersheriff at the time to then-sheriff and now Gov. Joe Lombardo, and Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, declined to accept the recommendation to fire Ponder after Trump issued the pardon. 

“Legitimate concerns regarding Jon Ponder and his actions and their effect on the program were brought to the Board’s attention,” Wildeveld wrote. “The Board dismissed those concerns despite the significant evidence…”

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. arrested Ponder on Tuesday. He is charged with nine felony counts and 11 gross misdemeanors. The charges include sexual assault, sexual abuse of a prisoner by an employee, contractor, or volunteer, and coercion of a sexual nature. His initial court appearance is scheduled for Thursday morning. 

The Current was first to report in April that Ponder had been banned from Nevada prisons and was under investigation. 

Metro is asking others who may have been victimized by Ponder to contact police. 

Lombardo, McMahill, and Wolfson did not respond when asked Wednesday if they regret not taking action to protect Nevada inmates and other potential victims. . 

‘Undying faith’

Wildeveld, in her 2020 letter, asserted that “disregarding the Board’s counsel’s advice to fire Jon” indicated the organization had lost its way, and wrote that “fundraising and promotion has been placed ahead of the original mission” to serve the reentry population, which she said was “replaced or overshadowed” with the goal of making Ponder a celebrity. 

Ponder’s “attitude toward the inmate population who have the opportunity to successfully reintegrate has morphed into something almost unrecognizable and that should be of great concern to this Board,” Wildeveld wrote, noting his votes as a member of the state’s sentencing commission against releasing some inmates during the pandemic, and voting against allowing pregnant women to be released from custody.

Wildeveld added the board’s “undying faith in a leader who has failed to lead by example, and who at a minimum has put the entire mission at risk through his conscious actions, is the height of hypocrisy and spells a certain implosion…” 

Hope for Prisoners, she added, “may benefit from portraying Jon as a reformed bank robber, who did his time (five years), found Jesus and devoted his life to others, but someday someone will probe into the rest of his criminal history and recent actions and conclude that the organization is in troubled hands.”

In addition to complaints from women in the program about Ponder’s behavior, the board’s outside counsel, Lynne McChrystal, investigated allegations made by former employee Rodney Taylor, who said Ponder gave favorable treatment to female employees. 

“Eventually, the harassment and promises not kept, threats, and witnessing inappropriate behavior with female staff, mentors, Hope graduates, and donors surpassed my boundaries of acceptable behavior in the workplace,” Taylor wrote to the board in May 2020, in a letter that was made public during a 2024 lawsuit brought by another former employee against the nonprofit and Ponder. 

Since Wildeveld’s resignation in 2020, Lombardo, McMahill, and Wolfson have refused to respond to questions and denied the Current’s repeated requests under the Nevada Open Records Act to turn over Wildeveld’s letter, which was sent to McMahill and Wolfson at their government email addresses.  

Lombardo and McMahill have long refused to say whether Metro conducted its own investigation of HFP, which is a community partner of the police department. Metro Undersheriff Andrew Walsh and Assistant Sheriff Michael Gennaro serve on HFP’s board of directors. The organization’s monthly graduation ceremonies are held at Metro headquarters. 

As governor, Lombardo has doubled down on his support for Hope for Prisoners by expanding the program in state prisons.

Wolfson, who is no longer on the HFP board, has remained close to Ponder and has featured him in campaign ads. Wolfson also formed a partnership with Ponder called Hope for Second Chances, in which individuals convicted of nonviolent felonies can complete the program in lieu of serving time.  

Former Metro Captain Todd Fasulo, who is now vice president of security for Wynn Las Vegas, served as president of the board in 2020. He declined to comment. 

Hope for Prisoners did not respond to requests for comment.