A former Gardner police officer pleads guilty to lesser charges in a Hampton sexual assault case

On By Yukito

HAMPTON – A former Massachusetts police officer accused of sexually assaulting a Hampton woman in 2023 has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to resolve the case.

Dylan Bryant, 30, of Gardner, Mass., pleaded guilty Sept. 16 in Rockingham Superior Court to a misdemeanor count of simple assault (physical contact or bodily harm) as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

He was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years, for good behavior. As part of the agreement, prosecutors dropped two counts of aggravated sexual assault.

Former Massachusetts Police Officer Dylan Bryant, accused of sexually assaulting a Hampton woman in 2022, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to resolve the case.Former Massachusetts Police Officer Dylan Bryant, accused of sexually assaulting a Hampton woman in 2022, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to resolve the case.

Former Massachusetts Police Officer Dylan Bryant, accused of sexually assaulting a Hampton woman in 2022, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to resolve the case.

Assistant District Attorney Roger Chadwick stated in his notice of waiver of criminal prosecution that Bryant pleaded guilty to “lower charges with the victim’s consent.”

Bryant was indicted by a Rockingham County grand jury in July 2023. He resigned as a police officer in Gardner, Massachusetts after the grand jury handed down the indictment. The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission also suspended Bryant’s law enforcement license.

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The indictment alleged that the sexual assault occurred in Hampton between May 28 and 30, 2022, and that the woman was “physically incapable of resisting.”

The simple assault charge to which Bryant pleaded guilty stemmed from allegations that he “engaged in inappropriate physical contact with (the victim) while (the victim) was under the influence of alcohol and did so without the victim’s consent.”

As part of his suspended prison sentence, the judge ordered Bryant to have no contact with the victim and be of good behavior for the next three years. The judge defined good behavior as no contact with the victim and “no new felonies, misdemeanors or serious traffic offenses under the habitual offender statute.”

This article originally appeared in the Portsmouth Herald: Former Officer Gardner pleads guilty to lesser charges in sexual assault case