Local teacher is jailed
HARTINGTON — A Hartington teacher was arrested this week and charged with five counts of child abuse.
Bradley Hegemann, 30, was arrested at Cedar Catholic High School just before school started Wednesday.
The arrest was made by the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office, with representatives from the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and Scribner Police Department assisting.
Hegemann was then transferred directly to the Dodge County jail facility in Fremont.
He faces five counts of child abuse, a class III felony, along with five counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Child, a class I misdemeanor.
Court records indicate Hegemann “sent several messages via ‘Snapchat’ to five underage males requesting photographs of their penis and sent photographs of his penis and himself in his underwear to several of these underage males.”
Court documents also accuse Hegemann of purchasing and supplying alcohol to these underage males on several occasions.
Hegemann was a teacher at Scribner-Snyder Community Schools from August 2014 through May 2016. During that time he was a Language Arts teacher in the junior high school for seventh and eighth grade. He also reportedly worked with the High Ability Learners program in the elementary school.
Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said the five underage males mentioned in the arrest warrant are students from the Scribner-Snyder school district.
“He did know these boys presumably because he used to teach in Scribner, and they are believed to be high school students now, with one or two maybe graduating.”
So far in the investigation, no students from Cedar County are involved.
“There are no crimes committed in Cedar County that I am aware of,” said Glass
Upon Hegemann’s arrest, officers also served a search warrant for his home. Hegemann’s phone, iPad and computer were taken as evidence to be searched.
Glass said he considered filing several other charges against Hegemann, as well.
“I did not charge procuring alcohol because they have no alcohol as evidence,” said Glass. “I did charge the five counts of felony child abuse based on the statements the boys gave to the police. I did not charge electronic enticement of a child which is a felony because I did not feel I had enough evidence.”
Hegemann’s electronics are still being searched for additional evidence, though. Glass said this could take a couple of weeks to complete, depending on if the electronics need to be sent off or if it can be done by the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.
“Sometimes the Sheriff’s Office can do this themselves, and sometimes they have to send it to the State Patrol crime lab to have them do it,” said Glass. “If that is the case, it would probably be a few weeks.”
According to Glass, the investigation began a little over a month ago when at least one of the students came forward to school officials in Scribner.
“My understanding is one or more of the boys were getting very upset with his continued harassment of asking the boys for nude pictures. They went to school officials, who went to parents and the police. Then obviously the investigation began from there.”
The arrest warrant alleges that several Snapchat messages were sent on or between Nov. 1, 2017, and Dec. 7, 2018. The five students range in age from 15-18 years old.
“He did know these boys, presumably, because he used to teach in Scribner, and they are believed to be high school students now, with one or two maybe graduating,” said Glass.
Hegemann was booked and processed at the Dodge County jail, and a $150,000 bond was set.
The necessary 10 percent, or $15,000, was posted and Hegemann bonded out of jail and is no longer incarcerated.
Hegemann resigned from his position as Language Arts teacher at Cedar Catholic Thursday. Cedar Catholic principal Christopher Uttecht said Adam Kuntz is filling in as the substitute teacher for the remainder of the semester, which ends Dec. 21.
Uttecht said the school is in the process of looking for either a long-term substitute or to hire a new language arts teacher to take over for the second semester after winter break ends.
Shortly after Hegemann’s arrest Wednesday, Uttecht addressed the student body at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church across the street.
“We decided we needed to talk with the students since they saw it and were aware that something had happened,” said Uttecht. “So at the end of the second period, we had all students go over to the church. I addressed what had happened, I tried to be transparent and honest, and basically, at that time we didn’t know anything other than Mr. Hegemann had been escorted out. Fr. Korte encouraged them not to make judgments, that we don’t know and to take time to pray for him. We said a rosary together in church and then went back to classes.”
Uttecht also sent two statements out to parents during the school day. One was sent in the morning shortly after addressing the teachers and students. The other was sent shortly before 4 p.m.
“We wanted to make sure we notified [parents] as soon as possible,” said Uttecht. “As soon as we met with students and teachers that morning, shortly before 10, we sent that first letter out. Then during the day, I was in communication with the Catholic schools office attorney and he relayed what the charges were and finally sent me a hard copy of the charges. We then used that to formulate another statement for the afternoon.”
The Cedar Catholic principal also said he was not notified by police that they were coming to make an arrest. He was at Holy Trinity greeting elementary students when he saw the police vehicles drive up to the school.
Glass said the intention was not to arrest him at the school.
“They wanted to arrest him before he got to school but they weren’t able to do that,” said the Dodge County District Attorney.
Along with his cell phone, iPad, and a personal computer being taken as evidence, Hegemann’s school laptop was also confiscated by law enforcement, said Uttecht.
Along with being in the process of hiring a new Language Arts teacher, Cedar Catholic is also looking to fill vacancies for the extracurricular activities Hegemann covered. He was the assistant coach to the girls’ basketball team this year and also led the Speech team. This past fall he was also the assistant coach of the volleyball team.
“I know [girls’ basketball coach] Craig Wortmann is in the process of looking for someone to help him with girls’ basketball,” said Uttecht. “He has given me a name, and I am not sure if that is done yet or not. For Speech, we don’t have anyone to lead the program right now. We have a couple of assistants that will be taking over until we can find someone to lead that position. Then for volleyball, we will fill that hopefully next fall.”
Lastly, Uttecht encouraged any students to reach out to himself, Fr. Owen Korte, or the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department if needed.
“The biggest thing is the safety of our students and keeping our students safe,” said Uttecht. “If there is anything that comes about, we want to make sure parents and students know they can come to talk to me, Fr. Korte, or any other teacher here at the school if they have concerns.”
Court records show Hegemann’s next court appearance as Jan. 22 in Dodge County Court in Fremont.
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