Former Kentucky band teacher gets 25 years in prison for sex crimes involving student
A former high school band director in Central Kentucky has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for sex crimes involving a student.
Patrick Howard Brady also was fined $5,000 and will be under court supervision for the rest of his life after being released.
Brady, 38, had been band director at Anderson County High School for more than a decade when he began a sexual relationship with a female student in 2022, according to the court record.
The girl was a freshman member of the band in 2021.
The next school year, she broke up with her boyfriend and began hanging around Brady’s office before and after school, his attorney, John C. Helmuth, said in a sentencing memorandum.
Brady, who is 20 years older than the girl, admitted in his plea agreement that he communicated with her by text, FaceTime and a social-media application called VSCO to “groom” her for a sexual relationship.
The two began to call, text and use FaceTime in the summer of 2022.
They ultimately engaged in sexually explicit FaceTime calls more than 20 times, with Brady telling the victim how to pose at times, according to the plea agreement. They also had sex at the school, according to the plea.
Police began investigating on May 12, 2023, after getting a complaint, and arrested Brady, who lived in Versailles, three days later.
Brady had gotten wind of the investigation and deleted the VSCO app from his phone before he was arrested, according to the court record.
Brady pleaded guilty to a charge of inducing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction.
That is a child-pornography charge, but Brady’s attorney said there is no evidence he was involved in child porn beyond his conduct involving the girl.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sentenced Brady Thursday in federal court in Lexington.
Brady will have to serve at least 85% of his sentence because there is no parole in the federal court system.
Brady also pleaded guilty in state court to several charges, including unlawful transaction with a minor, promoting a sexual performance by a minor, third-degree rape, sodomy and sexual abuse.
This story was originally published August 23, 2024 at 12:52 PM.
