ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former youth minister for a Northern Virginia church was arrested and made an initial appearance in court yesterday on charges of enticement of minors for illegal sexual activity and traveling with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity with minors.
According to court documents, Jeffrey Turner Taylor, 66, now of Milford, Ohio, served as a youth minister at The Falls Church from 1990 to 2002. Taylor allegedly sexually groomed multiple boys under the guise of spiritual guidance. His alleged grooming behaviors included sexual horseplay, probing inquiries into the sexual secrets and habits of boys, and detailed revelations about his own sexual experiences. On multiple occasions, Taylor traveled with the alleged intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct by taking boys with him to ministry events in another state or country. On several occasions, Taylor allegedly engaged or attempted to engage in sexual molestation of multiple boys.
According to court documents, Taylor served as a youth minister at two other churches in Atlanta, where he allegedly groomed and sexually abused a boy in his ministry there. Of the conduct known to investigators, Taylor’s alleged sexual grooming and abuse spanned from at least 1990 until 2008.
Anyone with information not yet provided to this investigation or who may have been a victim of Jeffrey Taylor is encouraged to contact the FBI Washington Field Office at this link .
Taylor is scheduled for arraignment in the Eastern District of Virginia on Sept. 24. If convicted, Taylor faces up to 105 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jeffrey L. Tyler, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Criminal Division, made the announcement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa K. Strobbe is prosecuting the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio provided substantial assistance with this case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc .
Court documents may be obtained through PACER for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, under Case Nos. 1:26-mj-750 and 1:26-mj-737.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Southern District of Ohio — U.S. Department of Justice press release.