Former Youth Minister Charged with Sexual Abuse of Minors

A former youth minister for a Northern Virginia church has been charged with sexually abusing minors. Jeffrey Turner Taylor, 66, was arrested on September 15 and faces federal charges of enticement of minors for illegal sexual activity and traveling with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity with minors, according to the Department of Justice.

Taylor served as a youth minister at The Falls Church Episcopal from 1990 to 1999 and later as director of adult discipleship from 1999 to 2002. The DOJ alleges that Taylor 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.

The charges state that 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, he allegedly engaged or attempted to engage in sexual molestation of multiple boys. After leaving The Falls Church in 2002, Taylor became a youth director at two churches in Atlanta, where he allegedly continued to groom and sexually abuse boys.

Taylor is scheduled for arraignment in the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia on September 24. If convicted, he faces up to 105 years in prison. In 2006, a majority of congregants at The Falls Church split from the Episcopal Diocese and formed The Falls Church Anglican, currently based at 6565 Arlington Blvd.

An investigation conducted for The Falls Church Anglican documents numerous incidents where Taylor took boys on “Coke dates” or had one-on-one conversations in his car about sex, masturbation, lust, and penis size, in some cases with boys as young as 11. Several victimized boys reported Taylor had engaged in inappropriate physical activity with them, including wrestling, grinding, and “nut smacking.”

The investigation determined that the church leadership “had no knowledge or awareness that Taylor had engaged in acts of overt sexual abuse,” although there was general knowledge among some parents that “Taylor exhibited a strong proclivity for speaking with young men about lust and masturbation in the name of wanting to help them address sexual sin.”

Source: Read the original report