FORT PIERCE, Florida — An elected official in Florida is facing two dozen felony charges after a mom in Illinois reported he had been sexting her 12-year-old daughter over Snapchat, authorities said.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro Jr. announced July 24 that law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on Fort Pierce City Commissioner James Taylor, 38, and took him into custody.
His arrest marks the culmination of a nearly yearlong investigation that began in August 2024 when the victim’s mom filed a report with the Evanston Police Department, the sheriff said in a news conference.
The mom of the now-13-year-old girl said a man had been inappropriately contacting her daughter over Snapchat beginning when she was 12, according to investigators.
He sent her nude images of himself and asked her to do the same, Del Toro said. This went on for a couple months, investigators said.
Detectives in Illinois traced the messages to a person in St. Lucie County and contacted the sheriff’s office, which confirmed the suspect’s IP address belonged to Taylor, the sheriff said.
Investigators don’t believe Taylor and the girl ever met in person.
Taylor was pulled over during a traffic stop involving a “ruse,” and was cooperating with detectives, according to the sheriff.
“I would say that he admitted his role in these and was very remorseful, obviously, I think mainly because he was caught,” Del Toro said.
Taylor was elected Fort Pierce’s District 2 commissioner in 2024 after serving on the county’s planning and zoning commission for nearly a decade, according to his commissioner biography. He’s involved in several local organizations, including the county’s education board and theater advisory board.
“The City of Fort Pierce is aware of the recent arrest of Commissioner James Taylor,” a spokesperson for the city told McClatchy News in an email. “We understand that this development may raise concerns within our community, and we want to reassure our residents that we remain committed to serving the public with integrity, transparency and accountability.” The 24 charges against Taylor include:
- transmission of materials harmful to minors by electronic equipment
- transfer or display of obscenity to a minor
- harmful communication to a minor
- lewd computer solicitation
- lewd computer solicitation of a child s
- olicitation of transmission of child pornography by electronic device or equipment.
Law enforcement officers are investigating whether there could be additional victims and ask anyone with information to come forward.
Fort Pierce is about a 65-mile drive north from West Palm Beach.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article311350640.html#storylink=cpy
By OLIVIA LLOYD/McClatchy News
Olivia Lloyd is a National Real-Time Reporter for McClatchy covering the Southeast. She is based in South Florida and graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Previously, she has worked for Hearst DevHub and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
