Former Falls Church youth minister faces federal charges in decades-old abuse case
A former youth minister with a prominent Northern Virginia church has been indicted on child sex abuse charges.
Jeffrey Turner Taylor, a 66-year-old resident of Milford, Ohio, was arrested and made an appearance in court on Monday, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
According to the press release, Taylor served as youth minister for The Falls Church, an Episcopal congregation that would later experience a schism, from 1990 until 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,” according to the DOJ.
“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.”
Authorities claim Taylor’s history of abuse might have extended to 2008, when he served as youth minister for two other congregations in the Atlanta area.
Taylor is slated to be arraigned in the Eastern District of Virginia on Sept. 24. If found guilty of the abuse allegations, Taylor can be sentenced to up to 105 years in prison.
Edward Lee Isler of Isler Dare, P.C., conducted an independent investigation into allegations against Taylor at the request of The Falls Church Anglican, which had broken away from The Episcopal Church in 2006.
The congregation would affiliate with the Anglican Church in North America. A remnant of the church would stay with The Episcopal Church and, after a years-long legal battle, keep control of the historic property.
According to the findings of the Isler report, published in 2024, the church didn't receive any complaints about Taylor's alleged behavior until 2007, five years after he left to work at another congregation.
Ultimately, the report found that “Taylor, while employed with the church, engaged in varying levels of conduct that was inappropriate and would fall within the definitions of sexual grooming or sexual abuse, especially when read in the context of the relationship and standing of Taylor and the male students in his ministry, with three incidents of that abuse being significantly more overt than the others.”
“The investigation also determined that, during the years that Taylor was employed, church leadership had no knowledge or awareness that Taylor had engaged in acts of overt sexual abuse,” wrote Isler.
“Moving forward, the church must continue … to be thoughtfully vigilant to ensure that all of its parishioners, especially the most vulnerable ones, are safeguarded to the extent reasonably possible.”
