Assault suspect recorded telling child to change story
This undated booking photo provided by the Monroe County Office of the District Attorney shows Deyon Taylor, who charged with witness intimidation and hindering prosecution. Authorities said, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, a 13-year-old girl secretly recorded video of her father Deyon Taylor coaching her to lie about having been physically assaulted by him, and managed to slip the evidence to stunned prosecutors on the day of his court appearance in Pennsylvania. Taylor was jailed without bail. (Monroe County Office of the District Attorney via AP)
A man accused of assaulting a child faces new charges after he was allegedly recorded telling the victim to change her story.
Detectives in Monroe County announced Tuesday that they charged Deyon Taylor with intimidating a witness and hindering apprehension.
Taylor, 56, was set to appear in court on Jan. 4 for an alleged assault on a minor.
Before the hearing, Taylor’s attorney informed prosecutors that the victim had changed her story.
The assistant district attorney assigned to the case them met with the victim, who asked her to speak in private. The victim then told the ADA that she was in fear of Taylor, and she had recorded him telling her to downplay his alleged assault.
In one video, taken Jan. 3, Taylor is heard instructing the girl to tell the judge that she was not hurt. He goes on to instruct her that she should tell the judge that she made up her injuries because she was mad that Taylor had taken away her laptop.
On Jan. 4, the victim took a second recording, which she said was taken on the way to the courthouse. In the video she asks what she is supposed to say. Someone else in the car responds “My dad did not hurt me, I was mad at him because he took my laptop.” Taylor then adds “My laptop my phone and my friends. And that was my world.”
Taylor goes on to say “Did he choke me? No. Did he hurt me? No. Was he being stern with me? Yes.”
The victim and her mother both spoke with detectives and reported that they fear Taylor. They said he drinks and smokes crack cocaine and can become very aggressive. The victim said Taylor had broken her mother’s nose in the past.
Her mother said that Taylor will often take her money, debit card and identification so she won’t leave him.
The victim said she was scared to present the recordings because she is scared of Taylor and feared that he would hurt her or her mother.
In addition to intimidation of a witness, Taylor was charged with hindering prosecution. Taylor’s bail was revoked in the pending assault case, and he was sent to Monroe County Correctional Facility.
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