Ex-Counselor Found Guilty in Spankings : Oxnard: A fired Santa Clara High School adviser admits striking three female students to motivate them. He also was convicted of a fourth incident.

A former Oxnard high school guidance counselor who told police that he spanked female students for disciplinary reasons was found guilty of battery charges Tuesday in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Robert Bradley, 37, of Camarillo admitted to police that he took three girls to a locked chemistry lab in Santa Clara High School and spanked them to motivate their studies. He also was convicted of battery in a fourth incident.

However, the girls told investigators that Bradley seemed sexually excited by the spankings and appeared sweaty and shaking as he hugged and kissed them afterward.

Bradley was fired from the Catholic school in January after two of the girls complained to school officials.

Bradley did not appear in court Tuesday, but authorized his attorney, Stephen L. Mitnick, to enter a no-contest plea to four counts of committing battery on school grounds. Each count carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

Judge Barry B. Klopfer then found Bradley guilty and scheduled sentencing for June 13.

Bradley said Tuesday, “I have no comment nor will I have any comment.”

The four spankings for which Bradley was convicted occurred during the current school year, but the district attorney’s investigators have learned of at least three others.

The case broke when Santa Clara’s principal, Sister Anne Eugene, called police Jan. 11 about complaints from two students, whom police then interviewed.

One was a 17-year-old Oxnard girl whom Bradley had counseled for about a year, telling her on numerous occasions that for disciplinary reasons, he was going to have to “kick your butt.”

The girl told Oxnard Police Officer Michael Williamson that she believed Bradley was joking.

But then one day last October or November, Bradley “offered her several alternatives,” according to Williamson’s report.

“He would completely bow out of her academic life and not attempt to talk to her anymore . . . he could continue to try and talk to her and convince her that she should straighten up or he could do what was necessary and spank her,” the report says.

Bradley did not let the girl decide, the report says. He led her to the chemistry lab in Room 19, locked the door and closed the blinds, it says.

Bradley then sat on a stool, pulled her onto his lap and pulled up her skirt, but the girl kept him from pulling down her warm-up shorts, according to investigators’ reports. Bradley then “began to strike her on the buttocks with his open hand,” Williamson’s report says.

The girl put her hand in the way, but Bradley said it would hurt more if she tried to block him.

Bradley hit her 10 times, then let her stand and hugged her, looking as if he were going to cry, the girl told investigators. Bradley told the girl that the spanking was necessary, then kissed her on the forehead and the lips and apologized, she said.

The girl told investigators that the spanking ruined her concentration in school and caused her to “ditch” classes on several occasions.

Another girl, 18, of Oxnard told police that a spanking by Bradley in the locked chemistry lab on Jan. 11 left her in such pain that she saw a doctor. The doctor’s report shows that she repeated the story to him. He prescribed mild painkillers after X-rays found no permanent damage.

After the spanking, the girl said, she got up, sobbing, and Bradley apologized, hugging her and kissing her forehead and temples. The girl told investigators that she saw Bradley rubbing his crotch before the spanking.

A third girl, 18, of Oxnard told police that she believed “Bradley may have been sexually excited” when he spanked her on Jan. 12 because he was “sweating, shaking and breathing funny” afterward, according to investigators’ reports.

Bradley told her not to tell anyone about it because he could be fired if anyone found out, the report says.

Oxnard police called Bradley in for questioning and informed him of his rights.

Bradley admitted spanking the first two girls “for disciplinary reasons” but “insisted that he had no sexual intentions toward either girl and that he honestly felt that by spanking the girls, they would begin to achieve at a higher level at school,” Williamson’s report says. He then admitted spanking the third girl.

Investigators also learned of a fourth spanking that occurred in September or October and involved a 17-year-old Oxnard girl. The girl told investigators that Bradley spanked her, then kissed her on the forehead and cheek in a “kind of perverted” way.

One girl told investigators that Bradley spanked her in 1982, then yelled after her as she fled, “This is between you and me,” and advised her to tell her friends that “Bradley got you good.”

Three other girls told investigators that Bradley hugged them and gave them kisses on the cheeks, kisses which one girl said were “wet and gross” and “more than friendly.”

Bradley remains free on a promise to appear in court.