Salina man pleads guilty to Production of Child Pornography Crimes

WICHITA, KAN. - A former Kansas teacher pleaded guilty to Production of Child Pornography offenses.

According to court documents, Ryan Brungardt, 38, of Salina pleaded guilty to 3 counts of Production of Child Pornography.

Ryan Brungardt was a middle school teacher and high school coach. In those roles, he attended wrestling tournaments throughout the state of Kansas. While coaching at wrestling tournaments, Brungardt would go into locker rooms after matches and use his cell phone to film the boys in the shower.

Over the course of this conduct, Brungardt recorded 71 videos of minors at wrestling events across Kansas, including the following:

• Newton, Kansas (January 13, 2024);

• Rose Hill, Kansas (January 18, 2024);

• Hays, Kansas (January 20, 2024);

• Garden City, Kansas (January 27, 2024).

Those 71 videos captured 25 minor victims (the youngest of whom was 14 years old), as well as 4 victims who were 18 at the time of the filming. There were additional videos of minors in locker rooms where the victims could not be identified.

This all came to light after some boys bravely made a report to their schools about a coach possibly filming them. Law enforcement interviewed Brungardt at the middle school where he was teaching. Law enforcement seized his phone and questioned him about the allegations of filming minors. After the interview, Brungardt grabbed his phone back from law enforcement and snapped the phone in half. The phone caught on fire and resulted in the evacuation of the middle school.

Despite Brungardt's actions, law enforcement was able to preserve the evidence and ultimately find the videos and hold Brungardt accountable for his actions. Brungardt is scheduled to be sentenced on January 13, 2027. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

"As a society, we rely on teachers, coaches, childcare workers, and others to protect and care for our children," said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. "The Department of Justice is committed to holding those in positions of trust to account when that trust is violated. We are thankful for the bravery it took to bring the conduct in this case to light. We continue to work to identify victims, so we encourage athletes to reach out if they participated in any of these tournaments."

The U.S. Attorney's Office conducted the investigation in coordination with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Newton Police Department, and various other local police departments.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit

https://www.justice.gov/psc

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