The prosecution of a former Gillette Little League board member and youth sports coach on suspicion of 13 felony charges relating to possession of child pornography has come as more than a shock for Brooke Deaton.
Not only is she the president of the Little League Board of Trustees, but two of her children were coached by 41-year-old Lawrence Spradlin prior to his June 22 arrest.
“He personally coached my son in soccer, so I was shocked,” Deaton told Cowboy State Daily, adding that he also coached her daughter’s softball team.
“I never had any indications about this,” she said, adding that neither did the rest of the Little League board. “He never hugged anybody, never got close. At best, he was annoying, but he was also the first to jump in and help people.”
She also said Spradlin could be “obnoxious” at times and “was socially awkward and would say things off the wall, but never inappropriate.”
When the Gillette Little League got word of Spradlin’s arrest, he was immediately removed from the board, Deaton said, adding that he was there when she came on the board and estimates his tenure at about five or six years.
The organization also never had any complaints about him relating to inappropriateness with players.
Deaton also said that the Little League is getting a lot of people questioning if it does background checks on its board members and coaches.
“The answer to that is yes, we do background checks,” she said. In Spradlin’s case “there was nothing in there that was of concern to trigger that a crime like this was possible.”
Although Spradlin’s alleged crimes have no connection to the league, Deaton said she and other board members have been fielding questions. Most have been supportive, but others not so much.
“I wish it would’ve been money or drugs or anything,” she said. “This is the worst thing that can happen to us as a league. Some of us have five or six kids of our own that play here.”
The Tips
The local investigation into Spradlin began June 22 when the Gillette Police Department received information from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICAC).
Acting on two tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through Yahoo!, DCI reported that Spradlin had allegedly been receiving sexually explicit material of children, including emailing it to himself, GPD Officer Julianne Koloski wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in Spradlin’s case.
The Yahoo! Tips were connected to Spradlin’s account, the affidavit says, which led investigators to find he allegedly emailed four explicit videos to himself on Feb. 20, 2026, and accessed another on March 15.
They all appeared to depict prepubescent females performing sex acts, with one that indicated it was “consensual blackmail,” the affidavit said.
Another video “showed a nude prepubescent female lying on her back,” Koloski wrote. “The girl had some sort of black strap attached around her chest, stomach and neck area.
“The girl’s legs were spread, and her knees were pulled up near her chest.”
A sexually aroused male also was in the video, penetrating the girl, the affidavit says.
A DCI agent also noted that access to the account with the alleged child sex material was from a Gillette internet service provider and accessed by a local cellphone that traced to Spradlin, the affidavit says.
The Search Warrant
Gillette police then acted on a request from DCI to contact Spradlin and execute a search warrant at his home on the morning of June 24.
“Lawrence was contacted at the door … (and) confirmed his phone number, email address, phone carrier and device all matched the information matching the investigation,” the affidavit says.
“Lawrence also confirmed his device has been in his control for the entire time period in question,” the document adds.
What investigators found on his phone’s “hidden folder” would lead to more charges, Koloski wrote.
That includes nine other videos of underage girls having sex with men, along with performing other acts with themselves and with objects, the affidavit says.
“The bedrooms appeared to belong to juveniles, with bright colors and very youthful bedding and décor,” Koloski wrote.
The videos all were tagged as coming from Telegram, which “is a well-known hub for the distribution of child pornography through various chat rooms,” the affidavit said.
The Charges
Overall, Spradlin faces 13 felony charges of sexual exploitation of children, each carrying a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
If convicted and given consecutive max sentences, he faces up to 130 years in prison and fines up to $130,000.
He waived his preliminary hearing in Campbell County Circuit Court, and was bound over to District Court this week.
His next court appearance is an arraignment set for July 30, at which time he’ll be asked to plead to the charges.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
