Accused of having sex acts with a minor he met while he was still her teacher, a former Wheatland high school and middle school band instructor is facing a maximum potential penalty of more than 400 years in prison.
Evan Whitt Bradley, 34, remains in the Platte County Detention Center on 19 felony-level sex counts, charged last week in Wheatland Circuit Court. Many of those charges stem from allegations that he performed sex acts this past winter with a child younger than 16, over whom he held some authority.
His preliminary hearing has been set for Monday at 1 p.m.
Bradley was hired in June 2014 as Wheatland Middle School and Wheatland High School band teacher, Platte County School District Superintendent John Weigel told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday email. He resigned in March 2024, Weigel added.
That was four months before the alleged sex crimes started, according to Bradley’s list of charges.
“I understand your interest in this matter,” wrote Weigel, “but due to confidentiality concerns, I am unable to comment on any personnel issues with any of our current or former employees.”
Because Wyoming law limits what public officials can reveal about sex-crime defendants at the preliminary phase of prosecution, the Wheatland Circuit Court gave Cowboy State Daily a heavily-redacted evidentiary affidavit Thursday, which describes Bradley’s alleged conduct.
‘With His Students’
Platte County Sheriff’s Investigator Troy Bartel learned Jan. 27 that Bradley was “rumored to be having inappropriate relationships with his students,” according to the affidavit and outside confirmation of the person referenced under the redactions.
“There was also concern that a minor female, (redacted), stayed the night at (redacted) residence,” says the document.
Bartel interviewed a minor female Jan. 30. She described the allegation that another minor female, while intoxicated, “had stayed the night at (redacted) residence.”
Bartel conducted another interview with a minor female that day, though it’s unclear if it was a separate girl from the first interview. That female described witnessing a romantic-looking hug between two people whose names are redacted.
On Feb. 3, Bartel interviewed a minor female at the sheriff’s office. She described Snapchat discussions in which the defendant was reportedly involved.
Bartel applied for a search warrant on the Snapchat accounts Feb. 5.
Snapchat handed the account information over Feb. 15, the document says.
In the Snapchat account Bartel was investigating, he noticed three sexually explicit photographs of a minor female in a “memories” file dated July 9, 2024, and another “memories” file dated Sept. 14, 2024, according to the narrative coupled with the charges applied to it.
Bartel applied March 10 for a search warrant for the defendant’s home and person. The warrant also authorized a review of his technology devices and the taking of his fingerprints or facial scan, says the affidavit.
Platte County Sheriff’s deputies and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents executed those warrants March 11. They seized a phone, in which they found the sexually explicit photographs in the two dated memories files on the phone’s Snapchat app, says the document.
Bradley was booked into the jail that same day, says a booking log on Platte County’s website. His bond was set at $500,000.
‘When He Was Her Teacher’
A DCI special agent interviewed a female that day.
“(Redacted) developed a close relationship with (redacted) when he was her teacher,” the affidavit relates from that interview. “(Redacted) would also talk to (redacted) about things she had going on in her personal life and struggles she had.”
The female said sexual conduct between herself and Bradley started around November or December 2024, and continued into February, Bartel wrote in the affidavit.
He’d “guilt” her into sending explicit photos, the female said, according to that narrative.
He was “persistent” in goading her to let him save her photos. He promised to delete them later, the document relates.
The document says the defendant would threaten to commit suicide, and because of this the female “could not tell anyone about their relationship.”
Could Be More
The investigation is ongoing, and investigators may recommend additional charges, Platte County Sheriff David Russell told Cowboy State Daily in a brief phone interview Friday.
The sheriff issued a notice to other potential victims.
“The big thing for us is if there are any other victims, we’d like them to come forward,” Russell said.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
