Cheyenne Elementary Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Female Students
A Cheyenne fifth-grade teacher admitted to sexually abusing two 10-year-old students; the same state tenure law that kept him on paid leave applies to every Wyoming school district.
Brian Wrhel admitted in Laramie County District Court on Wednesday that he sexually abused two 10-year-old girls in his fifth-grade classroom at Meadowlark Elementary School in Cheyenne, touching their vaginas for purposes of sexual gratification. The 55-year-old former Laramie County School District 1 teacher also pleaded no contest to a third count involving another student, before Judge Catherine Rodgers.
"I know my conduct was unlawful, and I am truly sorry," Wrhel told Rodgers in a prepared statement. His attorney, Thomas Fleener, said Wrhel "was insistent on pleading," calling Wednesday's plea "the first step toward rehabilitation."
The abuse began in August 2024 and continued nearly nine months before a special-needs paraeducator stopped it. She reported Wrhel on May 6, 2025, after witnessing him with his left hand between a student's legs, three inches from her vagina, telling investigators he had been "a little more touchy with the girls than he should have been." Cheyenne Police ultimately identified six possible victims, all girls aged 10 or 11. Forensic interviews at Safe Harbor, Cheyenne's child advocacy center, disclosed escalating contact: rubbing under clothing, unclasping bras, and hands placed into pants.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will dismiss nine child pornography counts. Investigators found more than 4,000 child sexual abuse images on Wrhel's phone, home computer, and other devices following a September 2025 re-arrest. His original charge sheet carried a combined maximum of approximately 395 years in prison.
The case also exposed a structural gap in Wyoming law that directly concerns Albany County School District #1. Wrhel remained on paid administrative leave from May until his employment was formally terminated October 20, 2025, because the Wyoming Teacher Tenure Act bars pay suspension before a hearing or criminal conviction. LCSD1 Community Relations Director Mary Quast confirmed the district followed required processes. The LCSD1 Board of Trustees has since proposed a resolution to the Wyoming School Board Association that would require hearings to be completed within 100 days and allow unpaid leave for staff charged with felonies or crimes involving moral turpitude. That resolution now sits on the WSBA advocacy platform; if enacted, it would bind every district in Wyoming.
Wyoming law (W.S. 14-3-205) requires any person with reasonable cause to suspect child abuse to report immediately to local law enforcement or child protective services, regardless of whether they first notify a supervisor. In Albany County, that means the Albany County Sheriff's Office or Wyoming Department of Family Services. School staff bear that individual obligation independently, a point the Wrhel case underscores: the principal was not notified until May 6, fourteen days before law enforcement was contacted.
Wrhel is held in the Laramie County Jail with no bond, awaiting sentencing.
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