
A metal suit of armor stands on the front porch of Dr. Earl BradleyÂ’s house across from the firehouse on Savannah Road in Lewes. ItÂ’s always struck me as a curiosity. Now, given the unbelievable sex crime charges filed against the doctor, the suit of armor symbolizes something far more sinister. For years, perhaps decades, no one knew or was willing to confront the monster that videos in police possession indicate existed inside the man. As for the medieval armor, the slit in the metal across the eyes offered at least a little opportunity to see the man within. For his personal armor, Dr. Bradley dressed his life with innocent cartoon characters to more insidiously camouflage the horror that seethed inside.
The front porch of the house reveals more of the man’s contradictory nature. In the window beside the suit of armor, a smiling Santa Claus figure looks to the world outside – another clue into the psyche of a twisted mind.
A further look around Dr. Bradley’s residence on Sunday morning, the grounds crusted with snow, showed a property not consistent with what you think of as a doctor’s house. The old house needs a lot of work. The ’70s-era aluminum siding is dirty, a back fence is broken down. A new boat and trailer fill much of the back yard with its collection of ill-kept small sheds. A lawn mower sits forlornly and askew, as if the gas had run out and the owner just walked away from it where it sat, without another thought – or, perhaps, with many other thoughts. The overall sense of the place is dysfunctional.
Several years ago, not long after he moved his BayBees pediatrics practice into the house on Route 1 where many recent crimes allegedly took place, Dr. Bradley and office staff entered the Lewes Christmas Parade. His float was one of the most unusual that has ever participated in the parade. He had cartoon characters aboard the wagon and other items drawing attention to his BayBees practice. Most noteworthy however was a picture screen at the front of the float. The doctor had rigged up a generator-powered video camera and had it positioned in such a way that it broadcast images of the parade in real time on the screen.
We know, now, based on court documents, that Dr. Bradley used those same technical skills with the video equipment to record his own deviant sexual crimes against the youngest of children. Trying to conceive of the mind that conjures and acts on these thoughts sends the brain toward shutdown.
Most of us have probably thought we would never encounter a real monster in our lives. Now itÂ’s clear that we have.
There have long been clues that this odd character wasnÂ’t in synch with the rest of the world around him. Now the community is asking itself how long these crimes have been part of his world and why we didnÂ’t detect their horrible extent before now?
Note by me- Does this say he was practicing out of his own home as of late? That might explain the staff, the leaving the room with the child. Almost makes it weirder though.