National Guard Cooperating With Investigation Into Sergeant’s Underage Sex Case

The Wyoming National Guard says it is cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation of a sergeant, and former high school music teacher accused of committing 19 sex crimes against a minor. 

Evan Whitt Bradley resigned last spring from Wheatland High School and Middle School, where he’d taught music.

The Platte County Attorney’s Office charged him March 12 with 11 counts tied to child pornography allegations, plus eight sexual abuse charges claiming he inflicted sex acts on a person under the age of 16. 

His case rose last month to the felony-court level; his arraignment is set for April 16 in Platte County District Court. 

Bradley’s heavily-redacted case affidavit says the alleged victim had been a student of his while he was a teacher. 

Bradley is also a staff sergeant for the Wyoming National Guard, a spokesman confirmed in a Monday email to Cowboy State Daily 

“The Wyoming National Guard is aware of the charges against Staff Sgt. Evan Bradley involving serious criminal activities,” says an email the guard sent Monday to Cowboy State Daily. “We are fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities in their investigation.”

Because the case is an ongoing legal matter, “we are unable to provide further comments currently,” the email continues, adding, “Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our members and the integrity of our operations.” 

Bradley remains in the Platte County Detention Center, according to a Thursday filing by his attorney. 

He 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. He resigned in March 2024, Weigel added.

That was four months before the alleged sex crimes started, according to Bradley’s list of charges.

‘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.

“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 kill himself, and because of this the female “could not tell anyone about their relationship.”

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.