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T.L. Sullivan | The Weekly Ledger News | Area News (The Reporter)
BOAZ, Ala. — On Tuesday afternoon, Marshall County District Attorney Jennifer Bray announced the conviction of John Thomas Taylor III, 34, of Arab for traveling to meet a child for a sexual sct. Traveling to meet a child for a sexual act is a Class A Felony with a range of punishment of up to 10 years to 99 years or life in prison.
Taylor pleaded guilty to the offense on July 15, 2024. Taylor was sentenced to serve 25 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections by Judge Tim Riley.
The following is a statement from the Marshall County District Attorney’s office.
“In July 2023, dating and messaging profiles were created where someone posed as a vulnerable 14-year-old girl from a broken home who was interested in a relationship with an older man. The Defendant responded to one of these messaging profiles and began sexually explicit and vulgar conversations with who he believed to be a 14-year-old child. The conversation between the Defendant and who he believed to be a child lasted several days and the two discussed a plan to meet up with one another to engage in sexual acts. The Boaz Police Department with the assistance of the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office quickly became involved and began an investigation and planning a takedown of the Defendant if he did travel to meet a child for sexual acts. On July 19, 2023, the Defendant traveled from Arab to Boaz to meet a child for sexual purposes."
“Thankfully, law enforcement was at the location to take the Defendant into custody preventing him from having the opportunity to rape a child as he planned. DA Bray asked Judge Riley to sentence the Defendant to 45 years in prison. The Defendant’s attorney asked the judge for the minimum sentence allowed by law. Citing the Defendant’s lack of criminal history, Judge Riley ordered the Defendant to serve 25 years in prison. The investigation was led by former Chief Investigator of the Boaz Police Department, Jarrod Davis, who is now a School Resource Officer with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Bray.”
Bray made the following statement regarding the sentencing of Taylor.
“Today I’m thankful to the legislature for realizing the importance of creating laws that give law enforcement the tools to take these pedophiles off our streets before they have an opportunity to harm an actual child. When we see cases where teenage girls form relationships with much older, adult men, we often see that they begin communicating with these men when an event in their lives has made them especially vulnerable, such as a break-up, parents divorcing, or trouble at school, which is the type of 14-year-old girl that was created for this operation. I’ve been prosecuting sex crimes for several years and they often come with their own set of challenges – the willingness of a victim to testify before a jury about the most terrible thing they’ve had to endure, he said she said factual scenarios and a lack of physical evidence. However, cases like Mr. Taylor’s allow us to get significant jail time for pedophiles without any of the hurdles often found in sexual assault cases before they prey on an actual child victim. It is clear from the many pages of messages and Mr. Taylor’s confession, that he had every intention that day to have sexual intercourse with a vulnerable 14-year-old girl. Mr. Taylor will be exactly where he deserves to be over the next 25 years, and I’m grateful a child did not have to suffer to ensure our community of such. I’m thankful to the Boaz Police Department, Former BPD Chief Inv. Jarrod Davis, and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work on this case. Their hard work ensured we could all sleep just a little bit better tonight,” Bray said.
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