Deonte Taylor, a 36-year-old former teacher’s assistant at Lusher Elementary, is being charged with hiring a hitman to kill a 10-year-old boy he allegedly molested along with the young boy’s family. According to Newsweek, Taylor was awaiting trial for his sexual relations with the then-7-year-old student where he engaged in oral sex.
That’s when it was discovered that Taylor had discussions about hiring a hitman.
From the report:
Taylor was in jail awaiting trial in February when he allegedly attempted to arrange for someone to kill the now 10-year-old victim and his family in an apparent bid to silence them. Taylor then convinced his boyfriend, Michael Johnson, 66, to pay the man to carry out the killings, which he did, according to the charging document. But the intended hitman became a police confidant soon after, exposing the plan. In addition to the charges related to the 2015 incident, Taylor also faces two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of attempting to tamper with a victim in a felony prosecution. Johnson faces the same four charges.
Taylor was also a fifth-grade teacher at Walnut Grove Elementary school in the Ferguson-Florissant School District following the incident with the unnamed student.
He was able to avoid raising any red flags because he was never formally charged with any crime.
“Mr. Taylor went through the same process that all of our teaching candidates go through. Everyone goes through a criminal background check, sexual abuse registry background check and there was nothing that showed up on that,” Ferguson-Florissant School District spokesperson Kevin Hampton told KSDK.
Since the story became public, a GoFundMe account has been set up to help the young boy and his family.
“I am seeking to raise funds for the victim, his mother, and his family who have struggled financially and emotionally since the original incident in 2015,” the fundraiser reads.
At the time of this writing, more than 100 people have donated to the page which has raised north of $3,500.