Columbia School Resource Officer Receives Probation for Sex Crimes

Columbia School Resource Officer Receives Probation for Sex Crimes

A former school resource officer, who was locally recognized as a college basketball star, has been sentenced to three years of probation for sexual crimes involving two students at the high school he was assigned to protect.

Jamel Bradley, 45, pleaded guilty on September 3 to two state felony charges: third-degree criminal sexual conduct and sexual battery with a student aged 16 or 17 years. The former resource officer admitted to assaulting a teenage girl sexually in 2018 and having a sexual relationship with another teenage girl between 2015 and 2016.

At the time of these incidents, Bradley was serving as a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School as a Richland County sheriff’s deputy. His law enforcement career commenced following his graduation from the University of South Carolina, where he was a recognized basketball player.

Condition of Sentence

Judge Daniel Coble, presiding at the Richland County Courthouse, sentenced Bradley to a three-year probation period with a pending five years prison sentence, based on the plea agreement with the state prosecutors. Despite the plea deal only recommending sex offender counseling, Bradley was also ordered by the judge to register as a sex offender.

The offenses carried a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison. His case reached a resolution nearly five years after his initial arrest in 2019 for the criminal sexual conduct charge, with a subsequent arrest warrant issued for sexual battery in 2020.

Victims’ Perspective

A prosecutor from the 5th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office confirmed that both victims were aware and in support of the plea deal. According to the lawyer representing one of the victims, her client backed the recommendation that Bradley be given probation over jail time.