Guilty! Bryan Tyman, Portage, Indiana (arrested Jan 2013)

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Bryan Tyman (6225 Brie Avenue, Portage, Indiana), 45, teacher & girls' golf coach at William Fegely Middle School, Portage Township Schools, Portage, Indiana, "charged with two counts of sending sexually suggestive text messages to female students"

NWI Times: Middle school teacher charged, terminated in 'sexting' case (Jan 28 2013)

A former student of [Bryan] Tyman told police Tyman went from being a father figure to being creepy about a year ago when he began sending her sexually suggestive text messages. The girl, who was 14 at the time, said when she asked Tyman what he wanted for Christmas 2011, he replied, "I think you know what I want," according to court records.​

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Police said he confessed to sending the girls a sexually explicit photo of himself and a sexually suggestive request.​

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The girl involved with the incidents told police she developed a friendship outside of the classroom with Tyman and he had given her and her friends a ride home on two occasions, according to the charging documents. She said she played Xbox with him online and asked him once to buy alcohol for her, to which he replied he would if he got "a joint and you."​

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The girl and two friends told police they entered into a text message conversation with Tyman during a sleepover Dec. 29, 2012, and he asked for a photo of one of the girls. The girls said they downloaded several nude photos of a woman from the Internet and sent them to Tyman and he replied by sending a sexually explicit photo of himself. Police searched the cellphone used by the girls and found the text conversation and photo believed to have been sent by Tyman. The conversation includes requests by Tyman for a sexually explicit photo of one of the girls and for the three girls to participate in a three-way while he watches, police said. Tyman asked a girl at one point about her age and is told she is 14, police said.​

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When Tyman was asked to send a sexually explicit photo of himself, he at first said he was not alone, according to charging documents. After being asked by the girls to go into a bathroom to take the photo, police said he sent an image of himself with his pants pulled down. "When she asks why he fools around with young girls, he replies 'idk (I don't know)' and then clarifies that he isn't actually touching them," police said.​

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The allegations surfaced Friday morning when an uninvolved student reported the text conversation and photo to school officials.​

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CBS Local Chicago: Indiana Teacher Sends Sexually Explicit Photo To Teen Girl: Police (Jan 28 2013)

Bryan Tyman, 44, met the girl when she was in eighth grade and he was teaching at Fegely Middle School in Portage, Ind., a release from Porter County prosecutor Brian Gensel said. He gave her and her friends rides home on two occasions and she played X-Box with him online, the girl told police. The girl told police the relationship became “creepy” and he began sending her inappropriate text messages. On Dec. 29, 2012, the girl and her friends used her phone to text Tyman and he sent them a photo of his exposed genitals, the release said.​

 

NBC News: 'Sexting' case: Indiana middle school teacher facing charges is fired (Jan 29 2013)

A former female student told police she developed a friendship with Tyman as a father figure and they played Xbox games online, the Post-Tribune in Indiana reported. But the relationship eventually became "creepy," the girl told authorities, according to the Post-Tribune. Court records reviewed by nwitimes.com say that in December 2011, the then-14-year-old girl asked Tyman what he wanted for Christmas. "I think you know what I want," Tyman responded, according to court records.​

 

Post-Tribune: Former Portage teacher faces new charges alleging sex with teen (Jan 30 2013)

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Bryan Tyman ... allegedly had sexual relations from August through January with a 15-year-old student, according to charges filed with Porter Superior Court. He now faces a Class B felony charge of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor. According to the charging affidavit, the girl, now 16, told Portage Detective Janis Regnier that Tyman was her social studies teacher last year and they became friends on Facebook. She said he would take her shopping to Michigan City and that she used to visit his home. The girl told police that her first sexual encounter with Tyman came two weeks before her 16th birthday and that Tyman knew her age. She said she and Tyman had sex an average of once a week through Jan. 24.​

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The charges come from a series of incidents involving high school students between 14 and 16 years old with texts to one during December 2011 and nude photos sent to a group of three girls via cell phones on Dec. 29. The girl who was the focus of his attention in 2011 told police Tyman “sent her text messages such as ‘I think I’m too big for you,’” court records state. When she asked about getting him a Christmas gift in 2011, he replied, “I think you know what I want” and later that month texted the “a joint and you” response when she asked him to buy alcohol. The other girls became involved Dec. 29 during a sleepover. The three girls used the 14-year-old’s host’s cell phone to text with Tyman. During that chat session, Tyman asked for nude photos of one girl, who confirmed she was 14, and they asked for a nude shot of him. The girls downloaded photos without faces from online and sent them, and he sent a photo of what he later admitted to police was himself in someone’s bathroom with pants down but without his face showing.​

 

Chesterton Tribune: New charge against Portage teacher: Sexual misconduct with a minor (Jan 30 2013)

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Janis Regnier, a Portage High School student reported that, beginning in August 2012—when she was still 15—Tyman and she had intercourse, and that their sexual relationship continued through as late as last week, on Jan. 24, the day before he was taken into custody. Tyman—a teacher at Fegely Middle School in Portage—friended the girl on Facebook in May 2012, they began private-messaging one another and then “hanging out together,” and finally they commenced a sexual relationship in August, Regnier stated in her affidavit. The girl was able to describe Tyman’s tattoos and “accurately draw the interior of his house,” where the girl said the sexual encounters occurred, Regnier stated. She also produced a letter written by Tyman in which he states “My love for you must be kept quiet until you are old enough,” Regnier stated.​

 

Chicago Newsday: Plea deal for Bryan Tyman in alleged sexting case upsets Indiana parents (Apr 9 2013)

Parents who say their daughters were victims of Bryan Tyman will be in court Wednesday to send a message ... The parents say they are angry that a plea agreement may keep Tyman out of prison. The letter from the court says he will plead guilty to solicitation of a child and vicarious gratification. In exchange, he could get 6 years of probation, he'd have to register as a sex offender for ten years and he loses his teaching license ... Tyman pleaded not guilty to having sex with one of his students; that charge is expected to be dropped in the plea agreement. The alleged victims' families have hired an attorney and are filing a suit against the school district. ABC7 was unable to reach the district for a response.​

 

CBS Local Chicago: Teacher To Plead Guilty To Sexting With Students (Sept 3 2013)

A former middle school teacher [Bryan Tyman] in Northwest Indiana accused of sexting with students is expected to change his plea to guilty tomorrow–and that isn’t sitting well with at least one parent ... His attorney Bryan Truitt says Tyman will plead guilty to sending the girls photos of his penis ... But the father of one of the girls, Roy Peeler, says that’s not enough ... He says he will be in court, hoping the judge will not approve the plea deal.​

 

CBS Local Chicago: Teacher Seeks Plea Deal For Allegedly Sexting With Students (Sept 4 2013)

A former middle school teacher is seeking to change his plea to guilty, hoping to receive six years probation for sexting with students. CBS 2′s Suzanne Le Mignot reports the judge told Bryan Tyman, “I don’t know if I’ll accept your guilty pleas.” She then asked for a presentencing investigation, before she makes her final decision.​

 

NBC Chicago: Sexting Teacher Agrees to Plea Deal (Sept 4 2013)

A Northwest Indiana teacher accused of sexting his students agreed to a plea deal Wednesday. Bryan Tyman, 45, a former teacher at Portage's William Fegely Middle School, pleaded guilty to two counts of soliciting sex with a child. Tyman admitted sending sexually explicit text messages, with pictures, to four students on at least two occasions. It's a deal that could keep him out of prison, but the judge may not be on board and has the option of throwing the deal out.​

 

ABC Local WLS: Plea deal for Bryan Tyman in alleged sexting case upsets Indiana parents (Sept 4 2013)

Parents are upset about a potential plea deal involving a northwest Indiana teacher charged with sexually inappropriate contact with students. Parents who say their daughters were victims of Bryan Tyman will be in court Wednesday to send a message.​

 

CBS Local Chicago: Judge Denies Plea Deal That Would Spare Sexting Teacher From Prison (Nov 13 2013)

Parents upset with a plea deal that would spare a former teacher any jail time for sending explicit texts to students have convinced a judge to reject the plea agreement ... After [Roy] Peeler and other parents delivered victim impact statements at a court hearing on Wednesday, the judge in the case decided not to agree to the plea arrangement, and ordered all parties back to court on Nov. 27, giving the defense until then to rework the plea deal.​

 

WLS AM: Sentencing delayed for teacher who sent sexual texts to students (Nov 14 2013)

A Portage middle school teacher who sent sexually themed text messages to three students had expected to learn his punishment Wednesday. Instead, the sentencing of Bryan L. Tyman was delayed by Porter County Superior Court Judge Mary Harper, who based that decision on the ramifications of Tyman’s actions on those involved ... Harper noted the statements by parents of the students involved, who said their children are ostracized over their role in what happened to a teacher who had been popular with both students and parents at Fegley Middle School.​

 

WGN TV: Trial date set for ex-teacher charged with sexting students (Nov 29 2013)

A Porter County Circuit Court judge set a trial date for next February for a former teacher [Bryan Tyman] who was charged with two counts of sending sexually suggestive text messages to female students ... The judge said Tyman should serve some jail time, and under Indiana law, the judge has the right to refuse the plea agreement and set a trial date. Prosecutors and defense attorneys may submit a new plea agreement for the court to consider prior to the February trial date.​

 

CBS Local Chicago: Plea Deal Rejected, Trial Set For February In Teacher Sexting Case (Nov 29 2013)

The Portage, Ind., middle school teacher who pleaded guilty to “sexting” with three students will go to trial in three months, despite his guilty plea to two counts of Class D felony child solicitation. On Wednesday afternoon, Porter Superior Court Judge Mary Harper rejected a plea agreement in which Bryan Tyman would serve no incarceration, just a year of home detention, then set his trial for the week of Feb. 24, the Post-Tribune is reporting. Tyman would also have served six years of probation, the longest oversight possible. Both the prosecution and defense said they had met numerous times since the last hearing and felt the plea agreement to be just. Harper delayed Tyman’s Nov. 13 sentencing because she believed that he should serve about four months in Porter County Jail.​