Newport News assistant principal accused of having 3-year relationship with Chesapeake student
A former band teacher at Western Branch High School in Chesapeake who’s accused of having a three-year sexual relationship with a student years ago was granted bond Thursday.
Jason Michael Taylor, 45, was arrested last week and charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy and taking indecent liberties with a child. All charges relate to one former female student and occurred throughout her years at Western Branch, according to prosecutors.
Taylor left Western Branch in 2017 and was an assistant principal at Warwick High School in Newport News at the time of his arrest. The Newport News Public School District has since suspended him.
At a hearing Thursday in Chesapeake Circuit Court, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Amanda Winchester told Judge John Brown another former student of Taylor’s has come forward to make similar accusations. Winchester said the alleged crimes happened in another jurisdiction, but didn’t reveal where.
The Chesapeake student who accused Taylor of having a sexual relationship with her was about 14 or 15 when the crimes began and 18 when they ended, Winchester told the judge. The time period was from August 2015 to June 2018, according to charging documents.
Winchester said the former student told police the interactions typically occurred in closets in the band room, and at times when Taylor thought they wouldn’t be at risk of getting caught, such as after a basketball game.
The physical contact between the two started innocently with hugs and kisses on the forehead, the prosecutor said, then moved on to oral, anal and vaginal sex. They also became more frequent, going from about once a month to once or twice a week, she said.
Winchester told the judge the student initially talked to police in 2018 but had trouble “articulating” what happened. She sought counseling and went back to police when she was better able to talk about it, Winchester said.
When Taylor was questioned by detectives, he told them he’d had a “flirtatious texting relationship” with the student, but not until after she’d graduated, Winchester said. He also told them he didn’t think the girl had “gotten over” him.
Taylor’s current wife, Sandra Taylor, who works as an assistant principal in Hampton, told the judge her husband has Type 1 diabetes. She said she was concerned he wasn’t getting the proper care and nutrition needed to treat it in jail.
Brown granted Taylor an $88,000 surety bond, meaning he’ll have to post 10% of that to get released. He’s been held without bond since his arrest.
The judge set strict conditions for Taylor’s release, including requiring him to wear an ankle monitor and setting a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. He’s not allowed to have any contact with minors, or try to reach out to any former or current students. He’ll be allowed to go to work at a cabinetry business his father owns, and to have contact with his teenage daughter, who lives with her mother.
Taylor’s lawyer, Shawn Cline, said Taylor has no criminal record and an exemplary work history. Before going into teaching, he was in the Navy for eight years, where he served as a diver and in explosive ordnance disposal. He entered as an enlisted man and left as a lieutenant, Cline said.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
