Medford man to serve delayed sentence for child sexual abuse after appeal denial

Maine (WABI) - A Medford man will now serve six months behind bars after Maine’s highest court rejected his appeal on sex-related charges.

A warning: some of the details in this case are disturbing.

William Bradbury, 65, was sentenced in March 2025 for unlawful sexual touching and indecent conduct.

The sentence was paused while he appealed.

Prosecutors say in 2023, Bradbury exposed himself to two sisters, ages 13-14 and 16, while watching them swim, and showed them explicit videos of himself.

Court documents say their families were friends, and the girls’ mother left the younger sister asleep on Bradbury’s couch after a barbecue.

The victim reported waking up to Bradbury touching her inappropriately and exposing himself before driving her home.

A jury convicted Bradbury of unlawful sexual touching and indecent conduct.

On appeal, Bradbury argued prosecutors did not prove the sleeping child had “not expressly or impliedly acquiesced.” That language is part of a statute that was in use in 2023 but has since been adjusted to say “has not consented to.” The appeal also claimed prosecutors improperly introduced phone images turned over just 12 days before trial.

Maine Supreme Judicial Court justices criticized prosecutors for the late discovery, but upheld the convictions.

Bradbury was a registered sex offender at the time of the incidents. In July of 2017, Bradbury was involved in a 22-hour standoff with police when they were arresting him for sexually abusing a minor. He was convicted of the charges in 2018.