A former Salina middle school teacher and high school wrestling coach will spend up to 40 years in federal prison after reaching a plea agreement in a federal child pornography case.

Federal court records indicate Ryan Brungardt pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of sexual exploitation of a child / production of child pornography.

Brungardt is a former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School in Salina and a teacher at Lakewood Middle School. He was accused of clandestinely using a cellphone to record minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament which was held at Newton High School in January 2024. Federal court records indicate there were 71 videos captured of 25 minors, the younest  14.

Brungardt was arrested at Lakewood Middle School back in January of 2024.  Detectives from the Newton Police Department, with the assistance of the Salina Police Department, made contact with him at the school to seize his cell phone pursuant to a search warrant issued in Harvey County.

After having seized the cell phone, Newton detectives were speaking with Brungardt when he forcibly grabbed the cell phone from detectives and began breaking the phone. A struggle ensued and Brungardt resisted officers. Brungardt broke the phone rupturing the phones lithium battery causing smoke and a small fire in an office.  Newton detectives deployed a Taser as Brungardt continued to resist. Law enforcement were then able to control Brungardt who was taken into custody.

The fire alarm for the building did activate and the building was evacuated. There was damage to flooring in the school.