Ryan Brungardt

Convicted by plea. Brungardt, 38, pleaded guilty to three counts of production of child pornography; sentencing is scheduled for January 13, 2027, and the felony pleas carry the production statute’s severe penalty structure.

Introduction

Ryan Brungardt, a 38-year-old former Salina, Kansas middle school teacher and high school coach, pleaded guilty to three counts of production of child pornography — federal charges built on 71 videos he recorded of boys in locker-room showers while coaching at wrestling tournaments across the state . The pleas, announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas on October 15, 2026, cap a case that surfaced when some of the boys he coached reported to their schools that a coach might be filming them . The 71 videos captured 25 minor victims — the youngest 14 years old — along with four victims who were 18 at the time of the filming, plus additional videos in which the minors could not be identified . Brungardt is scheduled to be sentenced on January 13, 2027 .

Background Information

Brungardt worked as a middle school teacher and high school coach, roles that took him to wrestling tournaments throughout Kansas — the access his abuse of trust depended on . While coaching at those tournaments, he would go into locker rooms after matches and use his cell phone to film the boys in the shower . The court documents date the recorded tournaments to a single month: Newton, Kansas on January 13, 2024; Rose Hill on January 18; Hays on January 20; and Garden City on January 27 — four events in fifteen days . The U.S. Attorney’s Office investigated in coordination with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Newton Police Department, and other local departments, under the department’s Project Safe Childhood initiative .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The conduct came to light through the victims themselves: some of the boys reported to their schools that a coach possibly filming them — the report that triggered law enforcement’s interview of Brungardt at the middle school where he was teaching . Officers seized his phone and questioned him about the allegations of filming minors; after the interview, Brungardt grabbed his phone back from law enforcement and snapped it in half, and the phone caught fire, resulting in the evacuation of the middle school . The destruction attempt failed: officers preserved the evidence and recovered the videos — 71 recordings across four tournaments, 25 minor victims, and the additional unidentified-victim footage that broadened the production counts . The pleas to three counts of production concede the filming itself; sentencing will fix the consequences .

Public Reaction and Consequences

U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser framed the case around the trust it violated: “As a society, we rely on teachers, coaches, childcare workers, and others to protect and care for our children,” adding that the department is “committed to holding those in positions of trust to account when that trust is violated” . He credited “the bravery it took to bring the conduct in this case to light” — the students’ reports — and asked any athletes who participated in the tournaments to reach out as investigators continue identifying victims . The case was brought under Project Safe Childhood, the nationwide initiative against child sexual exploitation launched in 2006 .

Current Status

Brungardt has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing on January 13, 2027, where a federal district court judge will determine the sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutory factors . The production-of-child-pornography counts he pleaded to carry some of the federal code’s longest statutory ranges, and the victim count — 25 minors in the charged videos alone — will anchor the guidelines computation . Investigators continue working to identify victims from the tournaments .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Brungardt’s teaching and coaching careers ended in the spring of his arrest, and the guilty pleas convert what his students reported into admissions of federal felonies that will keep him in the criminal-registry and correctional systems for decades. The spectacle of the evidence attempt — a phone snapped in half in a school office, burning hot enough to evacuate the building — ensured the case’s facts entered the public record in the students’ own framing: a coach they suspected, a report they made, and a recording operation they ended. His sentencing in January 2027 closes the loop the wrestlers opened.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Kansas, “Salina man pleads guilty to Production of Child Pornography Crimes,” October 15, 2026 — source