Jury finds Newton woman guilty of helping juveniles conceal evidence of crime

The Newton woman who encouraged juveniles to keep their mouths shut and change their social media pages after they allegedly stole firearms from a local residence in November 2024 was found guilty by a jury of obstructing prosecution, and she is scheduled for sentencing next month.

Amanda Lynn Bruce was arrested alongside another parent, Brian Ray Hammer Sr., for allegedly helping three juveniles hide, conceal and/or alter the physical evidence related to the prosecution of their children; the teens were facing felony charges of burglary, reckless use of firearms and trafficking stolen firearms.

Criminal complaints obtained by Newton News show Bruce’s child was arrested and charged for the burglary in October 2024. Officers were first alerted to the burglary in August 2024, which occurred at a home in the 1600 block of West Seventh Street South in Newton. Guns and other items were stolen.

Over the course of the two-month investigation, police learned parents of some of the juveniles tried to hide evidence or conceal the crimes. Police obtained Snapchat records from the juveniles, associates and a witness. In the records, a phone call was video recorded. Bruce could be heard speaking on the phone.

She told the juveniles to “keep their mouths shut” and to “change your Snapchat.”

When police received the Snapchat records, they indicated the usernames of others involved had been changed recently.

Officers suspected the juveniles of the burglary as early as September 2024. In that same month, police issued a search warrant for the phone of one of the juveniles. Neither the juvenile nor Hammer were home at the time, so a copy of the warrant was left with a family member.

Social media messages obtained by police showed them that after the warrant was served Hammer offered to help the juvenile, even though he was aware of the felony crimes alleged. He instructed the child to deactivate their social media accounts and to not have their phone on them and to hide it from police.

When Hammer brought his child to the police department and officers asked about the child’s phone, the criminal complaint states that Hammer lied and told them his child does not have a phone.