A prosecutor in rural Arkansas whose uncle is among the state’s most dangerous pedophiles has been accused of ‘actively working to protect’ him.
Jana Bradford, a 54-year-old married mother of two, currently serves as the prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ 9th Judicial District West.
Her uncle, Barry Walker, 59, was arrested in June 2022 after hundreds of homemade videos of him raping girls aged from two to 14 were found at his Glenwood, Arkansas home.
Walker, a former Air Force flight surgeon, pleaded guilty to abusing at least 31 girls from 1997 onwards, and in October 2022 was given multiple life sentences.
Several of his relatives – his girlfriend, brother, and another niece – have been criminally charged with covering up for him, to varying degrees. All live in the small town of 2,200 people that Bradford represents as prosecutor.
Now the spotlight is on Bradford, who for 20 years has sought to assist her uncle with legal issues following his first conviction for sexually abusing a child, in 2000, and tried to clear his name.
Barry Walker (left) has been described one of the worst pedophiles Arkansas has ever known. His niece, Jana Bradford (right), worked for 20 years to clear her uncle’s name and is now mentioned in a civil lawsuit alleging she and other relatives shielded him, to protect her election campaign for local prosecutor
Walker is seen in October 2022, receiving 39 life sentences without the possibility of parole
A civil lawsuit has been filed alleging a cover-up orchestrated by the Walker’s ‘inner circle,’ including Bradford.
‘You don’t rape this many girls this many times in a small Arkansas town unless someone is running interference for you,’ said David Carter, a Texarkana lawyer representing at least 14 of the victims or their parents and guardians.
The case claims that Walker’s acts were hushed up by relatives to protect Bradford’s election campaign, to become prosecutor.
She was elected in May 2022 – 16 days before her uncle’s home was finally raided.
Bradford has strongly denied doing anything to shield her uncle, and insisted that she was not aware that he sexually abused children after his first conviction.
‘Ms Bradford denies in the most emphatic terms possible that she knew Barry Walker was molesting children or that she did anything whatsoever to conceal his depraved behavior,’ said her lawyer, Erin Casinelli.
‘Since Ms Bradford did not even know about Barry Walker’s continuing criminal acts, she certainly cannot be held responsible for his actions and the harm he caused.’
Cassinelli said all of the lawsuit’s allegations about Bradford are ‘absolutely false,’ and have not been verified or supported by factual evidence.
Bradford has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The special prosecutor overseeing Walker’s case and related ones, who was assigned in part due to Bradford’s conflicts of interest, said that a criminal investigation of ‘secondary targets’ remains ongoing.
Walker was convicted in 2000 of two felony counts of sexually abusing a child – attacking an eight-year-old girl in the library of her family home, when Walker and his then-wife were invited to the house for dinner.
He was sentenced to five years in prison, and his wife divorced him.
Walker served less than a year of his sentence, and was paroled early for good behavior.
In 2004, Bradford helped him apply for a pardon from Governor Mike Huckabee, arguing that he wanted to be allowed to practice medicine again. Huckabee refused.
In 2004, Bradford helped her uncle apply for a pardon. It was denied
As a condition of his release, Walker – who remained a convicted sex offender – was ordered to be accompanied at all times when in the presence of children.
Yet, according to the lawsuit, he flagrantly flouted the laws – and Bradford and others turned a blind eye.
The suit, obtained by NBC News, claims that she and other family members regularly ‘saw prepubescent females riding in Barry’s truck around Glenwood, riding horses with Barry at the fairgrounds, hanging out at Barry’s house and regularly spending the night,’ but they did nothing to intervene.
During weekly family meetings, according to the lawsuit, Bradford and at least two of Walker’s siblings discussed ‘how it was strange how Barry always had young girls around him,’ despite being a registered sex offender.
He faced multiple accusations, and yet remained free.
In 2004, 2006, 2010 and in 2014, he was accused of abusing children, according to police and the sex offender assessment report.
In 2014, after a four-year-old girl accused him of sexually abusing her, Walker was arrested and booked into jail.
Bradford and other family members posted his $25,000 bond, hired a lawyer for him, paid his employees and kept his construction business running, the lawsuit says.
Bradford, as a private attorney, wrote a letter to the prosecutor pleading his case.
Charges were dropped.
Bradford wrote a letter in 2014 on Walker’s behalf disputing allegations he had abused a four-year-old girl. Charges were dropped
Bradford in 2018 tried to get her uncle removed from the sex offenders’ registry
In 2018, Bradford wrote to ask that her uncle be removed from the sex offenders’ registry.
Cassinelli, her attorney, said the letters were sent ‘in her capacity as a private attorney’ and ‘included routine matters handled by attorneys for clients in jurisdictions around the country.’
Cassinelli added: ‘There is no basis to suggest she thereby became responsible for the acts of another person.’
Carter, the lawyer representing victims in the civil suit, alleges that Bradford was aware of various reports of sexual abuse against her uncle over the years.
‘She was actively working to protect her uncle against these claims even while she was a deputy prosecutor,’ he said.
In the case, it notes that Bradford wrote in her 2018 letter that her uncle was not dangerous.
The lawsuit says the line ‘may well be the falsest claim ever made in a legal filing in the State of Arkansas.’
