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Letter to the editor

With secrets out, end came quickly

Police say John Bryan would have faced two felony counts of molestation.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 28, 2007

"This is the only way to protect you," John Bryan's suicide note reads, "Girls grow up to be special I know you will." Then he signed the note, "Dad."

ADVERTISEMENT John Bryan investigation "A girl's beautiful new life came with a terrible price" "Bryan inquiry trod fine line" Video: Police chief's news conference [Dirk Shadd | Times] St. Petersburg police chief Chuck Harmon discusses at the results of the criminal investigation into allegations against former City Council member John Bryan.

ST. PETERSBURG -- John Bryan's 15-year-old adopted daughter was standing in line at the Atlanta airport, waiting to fly home after a cross country trip, when she told her new older sister that she had a secret.

No one else could ever know, the girl said. But she had to tell someone:

Dad "touched me."

That revelation in early July, from one adopted daughter to another, revealed a dark legacy of sexual coercion and abuse that would destroy the public image of Bryan, the City Council chairman and close ally of Mayor Rick Baker. The allegations would stun a city, fracture a family and lead to Bryan's suicide in his Floral City house Sept. 7 as he faced a police investigation.

On Thursday afternoon, police released a report of their investigation into Bryan. If Bryan had not killed himself, the report says, police would have referred two felony charges of lewd and lascivious molestation to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, based on allegations that he fondled his 15-year-old adopted daughter. If convicted on both counts, Bryan faced between eight-and-a-half and 30 years in prison.

Police redacted the report to shield the identities of possible victims, but a court spokesman has identified the girls involved as two of Bryan's adopted daughters, ages 15 and 38.

Among other revelations in the report:

• Bryan twice fondled his 15-year-old daughter as they lay in the same bed within a span of a few months about two years ago. He told police that he had been "disoriented" and the touches had been inadvertent.
• Bryan, 56, admitted to investigators that he had purchased things for his oldest adopted daughter, now 38, hoping to persuade her to have sex with him when she was 18. The woman told police that Bryan had tried to force himself upon her during a trip to Washington and promised to leave her alone only when she threatened to cry "rape." She said they eventually had a sexual relationship, telling investigators that she feared he would kick her out of the house if she didn't relent.
• Bryan's wife, Alicia, learned that he may have inappropriately touched her daughter at least one year ago, but she didn't tell authorities. She was apparently influenced by Bryan's explanations and apologies, the report says. Police uncovered no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Alicia, though the report says she made "a poor decision" in accepting her husband's stories.
• A relative of Bryan recently walked in on him as he was taking his young niece's pants off.

As Bryan spoke to investigators about these allegations late on the night of Sept. 5, he knew his political career was over. He admitted making mistakes, but maintained he was a good man, the report says.

"I've just tried to be an upstanding citizen," he said, "but I've made a couple of errors in my life."

'No other place to go'

By 1986, John Bryan had gone from a shy Northeast High student to a successful home builder. He and his wife, Marion, had two sons, ages 5 and 9, and seemed happy.

A friend told Marion about a troubled teenager who needed a place to live. They took in the girl as a nanny and adopted her after her 18th birthday.

Around this time, Bryan routinely bragged to friends and co-workers about his extramarital affairs, several of them have told the St. Petersburg Times.

He ignored his wife and sons while lavishing attention on the girl, even naming his boat after her, the report says. Marion Bryan told investigators that she eventually learned her husband was having an affair with their newly adopted daughter. The couple divorced in 1992.

That adopted daughter, now 38, told police that Bryan first fondled her as she lay sleeping in bed when Marion was out. She told police she was 17 at the time. Within a month, she said, Bryan tried to molest her in the garage by forcing her against a car, but she managed to wriggle loose.

She also told investigators that on a trip to Washington, Bryan held her down and tried to force himself on her.

They later began a sexual relationship that ended after she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills when she was 19. She said she "gave in to John because she had no other place to go."

The Times is withholding her name due to the nature of the allegations.

Bryan denied forcing himself on his oldest adopted daughter. He told investigators that he "fell in love" with her and asked her to have sex with him in Washington. He bought her a new Mustang and gave her a stake in a family boutique.

Bryan stayed in contact with his adopted daughter, who went on to marry and have three children. Now, he told police, it was "a typical family, father/daughter relationship."

Apology accepted

After his divorce from Marion in 1992, Bryan met financial executive Alicia Linney. They married in 1993. Bryan's new wife decided she wanted children, and the couple made plans to adopt.

Bryan's first adopted daughter opposed the plan because of her experiences, telling him "Absolutely not," the report says. Bryan flew to Colorado and spent two days crying and telling her that he would never try anything sexual with other adopted children.

The Bryans became licensed foster parents in 2004, three years after Bryan was elected to the City Council as a Republican. He later became chairman of the group.

They went on to adopt two girls, now 12 and 15. Despite Bryan's pleadings and promises, the report says Bryan molested the 15-year-old daughter about two years ago. The Times is not identifying the girl because of the nature of the allegations.

The girl told investigators that he touched her genitalia while she was lying in a bed with him. She said that some months later he touched her again in the same way, and that it made her "uncomfortable." She told police that Bryan put his hand inside her panties in one of the incidents.

About a year later, the girl told a few people details about what Bryan did, including her mother, Alicia, according to the report.

Alicia, now 47, told investigators she confronted Bryan. He told her he had made a mistake and apologized for what he described as accidents. The report says she forgave him.

Talk at the airport

The secret stayed buried.

Then this summer, Bryan's 15-year-old daughter went on a trip with his 38-year-old daughter and her family in July. At the end of trip, as the 15-year-old waited in a line at the airport, she described what Bryan had done.

Bryan's 38-year-old daughter called Alicia the next day, furious. When Alicia told her she knew about the incidents, Bryan's oldest daughter was stunned. She didn't understand why Alicia was still married to a possible child molester, the daughter told investigators. So she told Alicia some of what Bryan had done to her.

Alicia told police that she wrote Bryan a letter saying she wanted a divorce. Then she ordered him out of their St. Petersburg home. He moved to their lake house in Floral City.

But later this summer, Bryan followed Alicia and the children to North Carolina, where they had been on a family vacation. He admitted to his wife that he had had a sexual relationship with his oldest daughter when she was 18, some 20 years earlier.

By September, Alicia told investigators, Bryan was back at his St. Petersburg home with his wife and two daughters.

Again, Alicia did not call authorities. Instead, she told authorities she had given her husband a "30-day trial."

Just before 1 p.m. on Sept. 5, someone called the state child abuse hotline alleging that Bryan had abused his adopted daughters. Police Sgt. Katy Connor-Dubina and the department's crimes against children unit interviewed all three adopted daughters. They began interviewing Bryan at the police station around 11:20 p.m.

Bryan was taken to the "soft room," where child abuse victims are often interviewed amid stuffed animals. He was questioned by several investigators for about 50 minutes.

After Bryan was read his rights, he was asked about his 15-year-old daughter's claims. He admitted that he had touched her twice, but he claimed that he was "disoriented" both times, that the contact was not intentional. He said the 15-year-old "was an incredible mover" while sleeping, which explained how his hand had ended up inside his daughter's underwear one time.

He said he had awakened with his hand over her genitalia another time and realized it was "not a good situation."

Police said they uncovered another questionable incident involving Bryan's conduct toward girls. He had taken a relative who was about 6 years old into a bedroom to put her to sleep, then taken off her pants. When the girl's mother walked in, Bryan told her he was just trying to make the girl comfortable.

As police continued investigating, a court hearing was held Sept. 7. A judge ordered Bryan to have no contact with his adopted daughters. That afternoon, Bryan handed in his City Council resignation letter and drove to his Floral City home.

A Times reporter found his lifeless body there that evening, apparently dead from carbon monoxide poisoning.

At a news conference Thursday, Chief Chuck Harmon said that while the department would have referred the molestation charges to prosecutors, it would have been a difficult case to prove in court. He also said there was no evidence to support a criminal charge against Alicia. The statute of limitations had expired for any possible crimes involving the 38-year-old.

Still, Harmon said investigators did not believe Bryan's explanations for his conduct.

Alicia Bryan declined to comment.

In his suicide note, Bryan offered little to clear up his motivations. He even misspelled his wife's name.

"This is the only way to protect you," he wrote, after naming Alicia and his two youngest daughters. "Girls grow up to be special I know you will."

He signed the letter "Dad."

Times staff writer Aaron Sharockman contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.

KEY POINTS OF THE BRYAN INVESTIGATION

Early July

• John Bryan's 15-year-old adopted daughter tells his 38-year-old adopted daughter that Bryan had fondled her two years ago. The 38-year-old tells Bryan's wife, Alicia, who later tells her she plans to divorce Bryan.

Sept. 5

• 12:48 p.m.: A call arrives on the Florida Child Abuse hotline alleging that John Bryan sexually abused his three adopted daughters, ages 12, 15, and 38.
• Afternoon/evening: Police interview Alicia Bryan and all three of Bryan's adopted daughters. Police Chief Chuck Harmon and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker learn about the investigation.
• 11:23 p.m.: Police interview John Bryan. He says he touched his 15-year-old daughter, but says he was asleep when it happened and didn't intend to molest her. He admits to a sexual relationship with his 38-year-old daughter, but claims it was consensual.

Sept. 7

• A judge orders Bryan to stay away from his adopted daughters. He resigns from the City Council and kills himself in the garage of his Floral City house.

[Last modified September 28, 2007, 01:27:00]