Arkansas prosecutor named in suit involving child sex offender
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Ninth West Judicial District Prosecutor Jana Bradford has been named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit involving her uncle, a convicted child sex offender.
Bradford, of Glenwood, Arkansas, is one of six individuals named in the lawsuit’s amended complaint, along with two businesses owned by her uncle Barry Alan Walker, 58. The complaint is 164 pages long and claims Bradford and other family members “circled the wagons” to defend Barry Walker and keep his businesses operating.
The lawsuit was filed in Clark County circuit court. It claims Bradford was a deputy prosecuting attorney in the 9th West Judicial District of Arkansas at the time of the crimes and was a mandated reporter of child maltreatment under Arkansas code 12-18-402. The plaintiffs are represented by Texarkana-based Mercy Carter Law Firm.
Bradford is being sued in her individual capacity only and is not being sued in her capacity as a deputy prosecuting attorney or as the current elected prosecutor of the 9th West Judicial District of Arkansas, according to the lawsuit. Bradford was elected in May 2022 and began her four-year term in January.
Walker was a physician until his license was suspended in 1999 after a conviction for sexual misconduct with a child in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Bradford and the other defendants were aware Walker was a registered sex offender, according to the lawsuit, and also knew Walker was at a risk of harming other prepubescent females if he did not continue his medical care, therapy and counseling.
The lawsuit also states the defendants knew Walker needed to avoid high-risk behaviors such as drinking alcohol and high-risk situations such as being alone with young females.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants knew Barry Walker had stopped receiving psychotherapy, was drinking alcohol and socializing with young girls. The family members would not allow their own daughters be alone with Barry Walker but “neither took steps to protect others prepubescent females from Barry Walker” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims Bradford made attempts to have Walker removed from the sex offender registry in 2018.
In October 2022, Walker pleaded guilty to numerous counts of rape of a minor, computer exploitation of a child, producing and other
sexual crimes involving children and was given 18 life sentences without parole in Pike County and 21 in Clark County.
Walker had been held in the Pike County Detention Center since June 2022 when multiple charges were brought against him after a search of his home. Police found evidence that led to accusations that Walker assaulted 31 children in 34 separate incidents, according to reports.
Bradford could not be reached for comment.