A former Wheatland band teacher accused of multiple child sex crimes with a teenage girl is expected to be charged with another criminal case involving a second alleged victim.
Platte County Deputy Attorney Marel Bunker Roth told the court during a Wednesday bond reduction hearing that she intends to file a second case against Evan Whitt Bradley, 34.
The judge refused to reduce the bond amount that is keeping Bradley in jail, but the judge did extend to the man the option to work with a surety bond company, if one is willing.
Bradley remains in jail while the Platte County Attorney’s Office prosecutes him on 19 felony-level sex counts that accuse him of committing sex acts against a girl under the age of 16, over whom he held some authority, and of keeping nude sexual photographs of a minor.
In the process of arguing what Bradley’s bond should be, Roth told the court that she intends to file another criminal case against Bradley on Wednesday or Thursday.
Tracking
Bradley’s bond was set prior at $500,000 cash-only, meaning he’d have to post the half-million-dollar amount to be released from jail.
If he were released under that earlier bond structure, Bradley also would have to avoid his alleged victim, any case witnesses and a certain redacted location, Platte County District Court Judge Edward Buchanan observed during Wednesday’s bond hearing.
The judge kept the $500,000 requirement, but added the option for Bradley to work with a surety bond company, “if a bail bondsman wants to take a chance on issuing a $500,000 bond.”
Bradley may have to come up with as much as $50,000 on his own to post bond with his bail bondsman, said Buchanan.
The judge also added a GPS monitoring requirement, and the requirement that if Bradley is not working he be confined to his home.
“If he is released I want that extra measure … for the alleged victims in this case, so they know his whereabouts and location are being tracked,” said Buchanan.
In light of Bunker Roth’s revelation that she’s bringing more charges, the judge noted that Bradley may have to contend with yet another bond arrangement when that happens.
Bradley is also under conditions from military protection orders from his employer, the Wyoming National Guard, according to court testimony.
Go Lower, Says Lawyer
Bradley argued through his attorney William Appleton for a lower, $50,000 cash or surety bond. Appleton said Bradley was willing to wear a GPS tracking monitor and submit to other community safety provisions.
But the purpose of bond under Wyoming’s rules is not to be “punitive,” noted Appleton; rather, it’s to ensure a defendant shows for court as scheduled and that the community is safe from any harm he poses.
Bradley doesn’t have a history of criminal behavior outside the current claims against him. He has strong ties to the community and he’s employed with the Wyoming National Guard, as a DJ and as a freelance writer, Appleton added.
Bunker Roth countered by calling two Wyoming National Guard witnesses who supervise Bradley: Capt. Eric Rush and Lt. Col. Daniel Johnson.
They testified essentially that, though Bradley’s attorney didn’t know about it until the Wednesday hearing, the Guard relegated Bradley from a full-time role to a more part-time, limited role over the course of a process that started in March and culminated in mid-May.
Johnson also testified that there’s a military order in place against Bradley to protect unnamed people not involved in his current criminal case.
Johnson said he initiated that order himself in November after two members of the military branch’s “band community” made allegations — which didn’t result in charges — of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Johnson testified he has “reason to believe” Bradley has not followed his military no-contact order.
The lieutenant colonel did not list the evidence informing his belief.
What It’s Actually For
As for Buchanan, he sought to draw a bright line between the money-posting component of the bond and the conditions-upon-release component.
The former is to make sure a defendant, unwilling to lose however much money he posts, shows up to court.
The latter is to protect the community once he’s released, Buchanan said.
The Teacher
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 an email when the case first went public.
Bradley resigned in March 2024, Weigel added.
That was four months before the alleged sex crimes started, according to Bradley’s list of charges.
Platte County Sheriff’s Investigator Troy Bartel learned Jan. 27 that Bradley was “rumored to be having inappropriate relationships with his students,” according to a heavily-redacted 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.
‘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 kill himself, and because of this the female “could not tell anyone about their relationship.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
