Counselor convicted in sex case

Jury finds man guilty in illicit relationship at Devereux Foundation

WEST CHESTER>> A former residential supervisor at a Devereux Foundation campus in Willistown is in Chester County Prison today after a jury found him guilty of having sex with a student there and of receiving sexually explicit photos of her.

On Wednesday, a jury of six men and six women spent about three hours deliberating the case before returning to Common Pleas Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft’s courtroom with a verdict of guilty on all counts against Everol David Bracket.

Brackett, 44, of Philadelphia was found guilty of seven counts of institutional sexual assault, three counts of unlawful contact

with a minor, three counts of possession of child pornography, and corruption of minors. After the verdict, Wheatcraft increased Brackett’s bail to $40,000 cash. When he said he could not post the bail, he was taken into custody by

Chester County Sheriff’s deputies.

A spokesman at the prison said he remained there on Friday.

Brackett was charged in April 2015 with having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old former student at the residential facility off Sugartown Road after staff there found a cell phone that the girl had left behind in her room when she left.

The phone, according to a criminal complaint filed by Willistown Detective Stephen Jones, contained sexually explicit texts and naked images of the 16-year-old.

The teenager had exchanged the texts and photos with a phone number belonging to Brackett, who had worked at the Devereux facility since July 2012. Photos of Brackett, who was identified by Dan Eichelberger,

program director at Devereux, also appeared on the cell phone.

When she was interviewed, the teenager said that she and Brackett had been involved in a relationship, even though he knew she was younger than 18 year old. In addition to having her sent him naked photos, she also said that he had molested her in a van on the grounds of the facility

in late March.

The girl later contacted Jones and told him that between March and April of 2015, she had engaged in multiple sexual encounters with Brackett in her bedroom at the facility, including having sexual intercourse at least once.

Brackett did not testify at the trial, which lasts two days. He will be sentenced at a later date.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Emily Provencher of the District Attorney’s Child Abuse Unit. Brackett was represented by West Chester attorney Adam Bompadre.