BRIDGEPORT — Parents in this small Wise County community are learning that veteran school bus driver Leonard Bradford, 42, faces five counts of indecency with a child and one count of possessing of child pornography.
"We had to sit down with my sisters about it and everything," said Karlee Goodwin, a young parent with teenage sisters. "It's kind of like surreal that we're having this conversation with them."
According to Bridgeport Independent School District Superintendent Eddie Bland, one of his employees spotted inappropriate pictures of young children on Bradford's laptop computer on January 26.
"It's extremely disappointing, we take what we do very seriously," Bland said, adding that he called police as soon as he found out.
Investigators with the Bridgeport Police Department said they followed up on the complaint and that led them to another incident at a the city pool over the summer.
In police documents obtained by WFAA, Bradford told investigators he swam in a public pool with 40 to 60 children in the summers of 2014 and 2015. The school district confirmed that their drivers are used to shuttle children as part of a city-run summer camp.
The city said that Bradford chose to swim with the students.
"During the time that our summer camp kids went to the pool for this field trip, it is also still open for the public. So when the bus driver requested to go swim at the same time, it just wasn't an alarming concern," said City Administrator Jesica McEachern.
According to police, Bradford admitted to investigators that he purposefully rubbed his genitals on five girls.
Both the district and the city say they will reevaluate policy and will consider closing the pool to the public during field trips.
Bridgeport police said Bradford will likely be arraigned next month.
