Former Richland deputy, USC star given bond on sex assault charge
Bond was set Thursday at $10,000 for Jamel Bradley, a former Richland County sheriff’s deputy and former USC basketball star, who is accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old high school student.
Magistrate Eleanor Duffy Cleary set the bond a day after Bradley, a former school resource officer at Spring Valley High School, was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. She also ordered Bradley to wear a GPS device and to have no contact with the victim.
Cleary explained that she set a lower bond because she required the GPS monitoring, which helps ensure Bradley won’t skip any court hearings.
The bond was set after Richland County prosecutor Amanda Gaston asked that Cleary not let Bradley go free without payment.
Police allege that Bradley sexually assaulted the student last year when she was 17. The victim and a guardian attended Bradley’s bond hearing Thursday afternoon at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. The victim stared at the floor during most of the proceedings.
A state advocate spoke for the victim, saying the charge that led to the hearing was a “traumatic experience” and that the victim was “having difficulty with the situation.”
The victim is “fearful of the defendant,” the advocate told Cleary.
Bradley showed no emotion and calmly answered procedural questions from Cleary.
Bradley was represented by attorney Stanley Myers at the hearing, who said his client posed no flight risk or danger to the community. Myers argued against requiring a GPS monitor, saying it would be “punitive” for someone who is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“He knows the consequence of violating bond,” Myers said. Bradley has “no desire or ability to run.”
After the hearing Myers said he no further comment about Bradley’s case.
Bradley, a recording setting USC basketball player from the early 2000s, started working for the sheriff’s department in 2007. He was fired Oct. 30 for interfering with an internal department investigation, Sheriff Leon Lott said.
His firing and sexual assault charge come while Bradley and the sheriff’s department face a federal civil lawsuit that claims the former school resource office sexually assaulted another student between March and April 2018. Bradley and the department deny the allegations in the suit.
Third-degree criminal sexual conduct is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. To convict someone of the offense, prosecutors must prove that a suspect “use(d) force or coercion to accomplish the sexual battery,” the South Carolina Code of Law states.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 2:54 PM.