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Sex Charges Likely Awaited St. Pete Official

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 28, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Standing at the check-in line of the Atlanta airport last summer, a teenage girl - the adopted daughter of John Bryan - shared a terrible secret with a woman who also had been adopted by the second-term St. Petersburg council member.

Bryan, the girl said, 'touched me.'

The woman, now 38, married and living in Colorado with children of her own, was horrified.

About two decades earlier, before he had adopted her, when she was working as nanny for his two sons, Bryan had touched her, too.

The moment is captured in a 37-page police report released Thursday with the closing of an investigation into allegations that Bryan sexually abused the two adopted teenage girls who had been living with him and his wife.

The allegations came to light Sept. 7 at a family court hearing.

Within hours Bryan, 56, drove to his second home in Floral City where he was later found dead in his smoke-filled garage.

'This is the only way to protect you,' Bryan wrote in a suicide note. 'Girls grow up to be special I know you will.'

As it turned out, only one of the girls - now 15 - said Bryan touched her. It happened twice, two years ago, the report reveals. The other daughter, now in middle school, denied he ever touched her, the report says.

Police Chief Chuck Harmon announced that had Bryan been alive, investigators would have recommended charging him with two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation. Prosecutors with the Pinellas State Attorney's Office would have made the ultimate decision. The charges can carry a penalty of 8 1/2 to 30 years in prison.

'Proving the case in court would have been difficult,' Harmon said. Among the reasons: There was no physical evidence, the alleged acts occurred in the past, and the girl was inconsistent on how many times Bryan touched her, Harmon said.

At one point, she told investigators she was not open to testifying, the report says.

The state attorney's office would have done a complete investigation into the matter to decide whether to charge Bryan, said Beverly Andringa, executive assistant state attorney.

'The case was over as soon as he committed suicide,' Andringa said.

Revelations

In the report, the former nanny, Bryan's wife, his ex-wife and others paint a critical portrait of the retired builder. Among the revelations:

•Bryan took his then-teenage nanny to Washington and tried to force himself on her in a hotel room, she told investigators. Bryan, as a member of the Florida Victory Committee, had gone to the capital to meet President Reagan.

•Once, after offering to put a relative's 5- or 6-year-old daughter to bed, Bryan was found taking her pants off.

It was the revelation at the airport, though, that pushed the former nanny, whom Bryan adopted with his first wife, to contact Bryan's current wife, Alicia, the report says.

Alicia had been told of the touching by her daughter about a year after it happened, the report says, and she confronted Bryan. He told her it was an accident, the report says.

The girl was apparently in the same bed as Bryan and 'felt something that woke her up and then she rolled over,' the report says.

The former nanny told Alicia Bryan that Bryan had inappropriately touched her several times when she was a minor, about 20 years earlier, the report says.

Alicia Bryan wrote a letter to her husband saying she wanted a divorce, the report says.

Wife Won't Be Charged

John Bryan moved out of the family's St. Petersburg home and into his lake house in Floral City, where he later committed suicide.

His 15-year-daughter did not want him to visit.

Still, Alicia Bryan allowed Bryan back. She gave him a 30-day trial as she considered divorce, she told investigators.

Alicia Bryan will not be charged with a crime, Chief Harmon said.

'She did take steps to protect the children' once she learned of the airport revelation, he said. 'Did she do enough? Probably not.'

A few months later, on Wednesday, Sept. 5, a tipster called Florida's Child Abuse Hotline and claimed Bryan had sexually abused his two adopted daughters. Police would not identify the tipster.

The following Friday, Bryan resigned. Hours later, he locked himself in the garage at the Floral City home with a riding mower and two all-terrain vehicles running.

In his interview with police, Bryan said he woke up with his hand on his daughter's crotch and some time passed before there was 'an exact re-run of the first incident,' the report says. He described his daughter as 'an incredible mover' in the bed and denied the touches were sexual.

Cases Form A Pattern, Police Say

The nanny's experiences would have been presented as evidence in the teenager's case because it represents a pattern, said Sgt. Katy Connor-Dubina, who's in charge of the crimes-against-children unit with St. Petersburg police.

As the former nanny described it, Bryan's treatment of her was marked by controlling behavior and sexual deviancy.

She moved in with Bryan and his then-wife, Marion Mitchell, the summer before her senior year at Northeast High School in St. Petersburg, and she worked for the couple as a nanny, taking care of the couple's two boys, the report says.

At the time, she had no home of her own, and the Bryans eventually adopted her.

She said she was encouraged by the couple to lie down and snuggle with them, and one evening, while Marion Mitchell was at a Neil Diamond concert, she fell asleep lying in a bed with Bryan, the report says. She awoke to find him touching her between her legs. She did not confront Bryan as she was in a state of shock, she said in the report.

Within a month, while she was at home in the garage, she turned to find Bryan in his underwear. She said he pushed her up against a car and tried touching her, she told investigators. She wriggled away.

A third incident occurred at the hotel in Washington, she said. Bryan had arranged for her to travel with him to the capital a day earlier than Marion Mitchell was expected to arrive, she said. She was surprised to find one king-sized bed in the room.

Bryan approached her and held her down, attempting to touch her, she told investigators. She said she wriggled free, went to the hotel room windows and began screaming, threatening to cry rape, the report says.

After she turned 18, she allowed Bryan to touch her and they had sex on multiple occasions, but she denied this was consensual.

'She felt if she did not do what he wanted she was going to be on the street,' the report said.

After the sex commenced, Bryan bought her gifts, including a new Mustang GT, and partial ownership in a boutique, she told investigators. The sexual relationship continued until she was 19, she said, when she tried killing herself. Eventually she moved to an apartment.

She grew concerned when she learned John and Alicia Bryan were contemplating adopting, but he flew to Denver to convince her what had happened between them 'was purely situational' and 'would never happen again' with another child, the report says.

Reporter Carlos Moncada contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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