A hearing has been scheduled for next month in McKean County Court to determine if former Bradford business owner Edward E. Wright is a sexually violent predator.
Under Pennsylvania law, “a sexually violent predator is a sex offender convicted of a sexually violent offense in Pennsylvania who has ‘a mental abnormality or personality disorder the makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses,’” according to the Sexual Offender Assessment Board.
Upon conviction for what is considered a sexually violent offense in Pennsylvania, the court must order an assessment of that person by the SOAB. The assessor will submit a written report as to whether or not the person should be classified as a sexually violent predator.
If the recommendation indicates the person should be so classified, a hearing will be set wherein the assessor will testify.
Should the judge agree, the defendant will be classified as a sexually violent predator, and is subject to lifetime registration with the state police, lifetime and at least monthly mandatory sex offender counseling, and active community notification of the predator’s name, address, offense and a photo.
In January, Wright, 69, pleaded guilty to corruption of minors, a third-degree felony; indecent assault without consent and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, both second-degree misdemeanors.
The hearing in his case is scheduled for June 11. Wright is represented by Bradford attorney Greg Henry.
At his plea hearing in January, Wright admitted to the following allegations: between Nov. 1-Dec. 31 in 2018, Wright had indecent contact with a 15-year-old female at his shop, Wright’s Music Shed on Main Street of Bradford, on four occasions. Wright was 66-67 years old at the time.
This was not the first time Wright was accused of indecent contact toward teenage girls.
In 1986, Wright pleaded guilty to charges stemming from allegations that between 1981-86 he sexually assaulted several female members of the Bradford Area High School Marching Owls. He was the school’s band director at the time.
He was sentenced to a term of probation for the 1986 conviction.
In 1986, Wright opened Wright’s Music Shed and was offering music lessons at locations in both Bradford and Warren. Both locations have since been closed.
