A St. Louis teacher accused of molesting a then 7-year-old boy reportedly hired a hitman to kill the child and family.
According to Newsweek, Deonte Taylor worked as a teacher’s assistant at Lusher Elementary School in 2015 when he allegedly removed the boy from the class, took him to an empty classroom engaging the child in oral sex. Although the boy’s family reported the incident to local authorities at the time, Taylor wasn’t arrested.
Between 2015 to 2018, Taylor worked toward his teacher’s license and became a fifth-grade teacher at Walnut Grove Elementary school in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, and since he wasn’t charged he was able to teach.
“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.
In November 2018, however, Taylor was arrested after DNA evidence proved his sample matched the DNA evidence of the victim.
Taylor, 36, faces three charges of statutory-sodomy.
While in jail awaiting trial, Taylor reportedly hired someone to kill the boy, now 10 and his family. He convinced his 66-year-old boyfriend Michael Johnson, to pay the hitman to carry out the fatal deed, which he did. However, the hitman turned an informant and exposed the plan to authorities.
Along with his charges stemming from child molestation, Taylor now 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 charges.
Both men appeared in a St. Louis court last week and pled not guilty. They’re being held in jail without bond.
