KC Reporter

A Springfield, Missouri man has been convicted following a guilty plea to multiple charges of sexual abuse involving a minor. John Michael Bradley, 65, pleaded guilty on May 5th to three counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 12 and one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place. The plea was entered on the first day of his jury trial after the initial witness had testified.

Bradley was indicted in December 2023 for offenses committed between 2005 and 2006 while serving as an active-duty member of the United States Army in Honduras, and during subsequent visits to Honduras from 2007 to 2008 as a civilian. In his guilty plea, Bradley admitted meeting the minor victim while stationed in Honduras in 2005 and sexually abusing the child over several years starting when the victim was four years old. He also confessed to returning to Honduras with the intent to engage in further sexual acts with the victim after his military service ended.

The crimes were reported by the now-adult victim to U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division in 2021. Bradley has a prior federal conviction from 2019 for possession of child pornography within the Western District of Missouri.

Federal statutes dictate that Bradley faces a sentence ranging from at least 30 years up to life imprisonment without parole. The exact sentence will be determined by the court following advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors, with a hearing scheduled post-completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Luna and Kenneth W. Borgnino are prosecuting this case, which was investigated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, and U.S Army Criminal Investigations Division.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse through coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local resources.