{"id":154,"date":"2008-07-29T20:59:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-30T00:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefiftyshadesofclay.com\/?p=154"},"modified":"2022-07-31T17:55:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T21:55:47","slug":"dont-bother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefiftyshadesofclay.com\/index.php\/2008\/07\/29\/dont-bother\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Bother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two girls say they were sexually assaulted by the same well-connected Clay County teenager. The State Attorney\u2019s Office has declined to prosecute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By: Susan Clark Armstrong Folio Weekly<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

* The names of the victims, their family members and some witnesses have been changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLife changed in an instant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seated in her brightly lit family room, just a few feet from her youngest child, Katherine Jones* describes the sudden transformation of her daughter Brooke*. \u201cMy na\u00efve, happy, open and self-confident child — who loved school — turned angry, moody, tearful,\u201d she recalls. The then-14-year-old girl vacillated between being unapproachable and clingy, says her mom. \u201cI had to force her to go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine didn\u2019t yet know what had happened to her child. But she says she often found the teen roaming their Fleming Island house late at night, peering out the curtained windows. The girl was uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn, no longer part of the loud and spirited nattering among her three older siblings. Brooke\u2019s parents were worried, but the girl insisted nothing was wrong. When Katherine finally did learn what was wrong, several months later, she was almost as shocked by her daughter\u2019s long silence as the actual news: Brooke had been violently sexually attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Brooke\u2019s silence was in keeping with what law enforcement professionals say is standard practice for teen victims of sexual assault. According the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 6 percent of teenage victims of rape or attempted rape report it to police. Seventy-eight percent don\u2019t tell their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the outcome of Brooke\u2019s own case, her silence is not surprising. She, along with two other Clay County girls, attested to violent encounters, ranging from forced intimacy to rape, with the same teenage boy. A Feb. 27, 2008, investigative report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement obtained by Folio Weekly includes allegations from three girls that Adam Taylor, now 19, attacked them. The girls didn\u2019t immediately report the crimes because they were afraid. Part of their fear stemmed from the fact that Adam Taylor is unusually well-connected in the law enforcement world. His dad, a veteran law enforcement officer who spent more than nine years with FDLE, is currently running for Clay County Sheriff. (Neither Adam Taylor nor his father, Mike Taylor, returned numerous calls for comment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girls also expressed fear that Adam would come after them. But mostly they worried their stories would not be believed, or that they would somehow be faulted for the attacks. That fear was well-founded. In two separate investigations, the State Attorney\u2019s Office declined to charge Adam Taylor. Prosecutors cited such things as the lack of witnesses or inconsistencies in the girls\u2019 stories as reasons not to prosecute. In one case, they cited the victim\u2019s alleged promiscuity as a reason, even though Florida law is clear that \u201cprior sexual conduct is not a relevant issue in a prosecution.\u201d In another, police cited the girl\u2019s subsequent decision to ride in a car with her attacker as reason to doubt her credibility. According to rape crisis counselors, both reasons fail to consider how young girls respond to rape and how the state must work \u2013 sometimes very hard \u2013 to ensure that attackers are brought to justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the parents of the girls, the excuses are just proof of how the system failed their daughters. They recently sent a letter to Charlie Crist, imploring the governor to reopen the case. Given the severe psychological impact of the attacks, they say they may also seek a civil remedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA crime has been committed,\u201d the families wrote in their letter to Crist. \u201cWe sincerely pray that you will help right this atrocious injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke Jones* sits on a chair in the family room, her gangly frame folded into a tight ball. She has dark circles under her eyes and makes little eye contact. Earnestly examining the blunt ends of her short blond hair, she begins to tell her story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 24, 2006, when she was just 14 years old, Brooke joined her slightly older sister, Amy*, in bringing cake and balloons to their neighbor Lindsay\u2019s house to celebrate the girl\u2019s birthday. After the party, they joined a longtime family friend, Ryan, at the community pool, then headed to his friend Chase\u2019s house. There, they met up with several other teens listening to music and playing computer games. Chase\u2019s parents weren\u2019t home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Brooke sat watching some kids play games, Lindsay approached her and told her one of the teen boys \u201cwanted to talk to\u201d her. She pointed toward a door off the family room. The teen Lindsay referred to was a sophomore at Fleming Island High School, and although Brooke knew who he was, she says she\u2019d never interacted with or even \u201cthought anything\u201d about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room was dark as she entered, and Brooke hesitated. At that moment, she says, her attacker stepped out of the closet and slammed the bedroom door. Brooke says he pushed her on the bed and began roughly touching her breast as he started to unbuckle his belt. \u201cI kept telling him to stop, that I liked another boy,\u201d she says, her voice beginning to crack. \u201cHe started biting my neck really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke attempted to push him away, but says her attacker then \u201cbit\u201d her lip. \u201cSo I smacked him hard on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t have done that\u201d Brooke says he growled. \u201cThen he did something to me,\u201d she says, fighting back tears and beseeching her mom to finish the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe clenched his fist and rammed it hard into her vaginal area,\u201d says Katherine with a forced calm. \u201cThen he rammed his fingers inside her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke says the pain was intense; she screamed and began to cry. Moments later, she says, Ryan broke the door open. She remembers other teenagers standing by the door asking, \u201cWhat happened?\u201d Brooke\u2019s sister Amy took her into the master bathroom. Ryan went for ice for her neck. Brooke told her sister what had occurred, and saw she was bleeding. Amy called their mother and told her to come pick them up immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several supplemental reports generated by the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office between July 2006 and August 2006, as well as a Draft Investigative Summary by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement dated April 10, 2008, identify Brooke\u2019s alleged attacker as Adam Taylor. According to the reports, Adam, then 16, acknowledged he asked Lindsay to summon Brooke into the bedroom. He admitted he \u201cfingered\u201d her, but that is where the stories diverge. Taylor said he could tell Brooke wanted to \u201cmake out\u201d with him because they had flirted at school. He said the girl came into the room smiling, so he took off his shirt and unbuttoned his pants. He said he put his fingers inside her panties, then stuck his fingers inside her vagina. Taylor said Brooke told him she liked another guy in Orange Park, so he stopped. He said everything that happened inside the room was consensual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam said that Ryan then opened the door and Brooke walked out. He said when she noticed a big \u201chickey on her neck,\u201d she \u201cfreaked out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the FDLE Investigative Summary, the teens who were present when the incident occurred were reluctant to discuss it. Several parents refused to allow their children to give statements to police. The stories that officers did obtain varied in some particulars. For instance, Brooke\u2019s sister Amy said that Ryan had forced open the door after they\u2019d heard something like a scream from inside the bedroom. Ryan himself offered only a vague explanation of why he entered the room so dramatically, and did not say he heard a scream. According to Ryan\u2019s statement to Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Ryan asserted, \u201cthe lights in the bedroom were off and it was dark inside the room. He stated that Adam hurried to the door and tried to block him from coming in, but he pushed Adam back away from the doorway and went in anyway. He stated that Adam was not wearing a shirt, his belt buckle was dangling and he was out of breath.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others noted that the music was loud, the atmosphere somewhat confused. Jordan Herrington, Adam Taylor\u2019s best friend, told investigators he didn\u2019t hear anything before the door was opened, but agreed that Brooke was crying when she came out, and had a large, red hickey on her neck. In his recollection, he asked Taylor what had happened, and Taylor replied that \u201cshe didn\u2019t want it\u201d because she liked someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan also recalled asking Adam Taylor what was going on. According to a Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office incident report, he said Adam replied, \u201cI was trying to get some.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine first learned of the attack not from Brooke or Amy, but from her oldest daughter, Susan, in whom Brooke eventually confided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine was devastated by the news. Her instinct was to report the crime immediately, but she was also wary. \u201cWe had heard Adam\u2019s dad was a policeman, but we didn\u2019t know where,\u201d she says. \u201cSo as soon as we found out about the attack, the last of June or early July, we went to the State Attorney\u2019s Office instead of the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Attorney\u2019s Office referred them to the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s Internal Affairs Division and Sgt. Ken Wagner, who was \u201ckind and helpful,\u201d Katherine says. He took their information and told them an officer would contact the family. He also assured them that Adam Taylor\u2019s dad didn\u2019t work for the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early July, Det. Charles Sharman was assigned the case. Katherine was relieved when he said he didn\u2019t know Adam Taylor\u2019s dad, and notes that the detective was initially professional and sympathetic. She asked him to interview the kids from the party before Adam, so Adam wouldn\u2019t have an opportunity to influence them, and he said he would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharman\u2019s manner was quite different by their next conversation. Katherine recalls he seemed cold and distant, and he repeatedly mentioned that he had talked to \u201cMike\u201d about the case. When she finally asked, \u201cWho\u2019s Mike?\u201d Sharman answered, \u201cMike Taylor \u2013 Adam\u2019s dad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine was floored. \u201cWhy would you do that?\u201d she demanded of the detective. \u201cWhy would you talk to the father of the boy who hurt my daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharman explained that Mike Taylor was an officer with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and would \u201cget the details anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word was certainly getting around. Katherine\u2019s older children told her that Brooke\u2019s allegations were the buzz at community pools, parties and hangouts on Fleming Island. Brooke entered counseling, but as summer wound down, she became fearful of what she would face upon returning to Fleming Island High School. The prospect of seeing her attacker daily was too much for her. She asked to transfer to Orange Park High School, and her parents agreed. She met with Sam Ward, then principal of Fleming Island High, and told him what had occurred with Adam Taylor. Although Folio Weekly was unable to obtain any records from that meeting, Ward signed off on the transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke\u2019s parents were eager for news in the case, but say Sharman became increasingly uncommunicative. They had to call the detective numerous times to get him to return a single call. When he did call, they say, he always mentioned Adam Taylor\u2019s dad, now referring to him as \u201cMikey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt felt like a warning,\u201d Katherine admits. \u201cBut, foolishly, we still felt justice was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By late August, Sharman had stopped returning the family\u2019s phone calls altogether. In early September, Katherine contacted Sgt. Wagner and asked him to check on the progress of their case. He reported back that the State Attorney\u2019s Office had decided not to prosecute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSharman didn\u2019t even have the common decency to call us,\u201d says Katherine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case was \u201cexceptionally cleared,\u201d meaning no charges were filed, even though there was enough evidence to warrant an arrest. This sometimes occurs when a victim refuses to press charges, or if a juvenile is released to his parents instead of being charged. In this case, officers with the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office told Folio Weekly it just meant the State Attorney\u2019s Office decided not to prosecute, possibly because of difficulties the case presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharman\u2019s final report, dated Sept. 12, 2006, reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCertain facts in this case significantly hinder the successful prosecution of the suspect and those facts are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The victim delayed reporting the sexual battery for five months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. There is no physical evidence due to the delayed reporting of the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The victim\u2019s sister corroborated her story, but four independent witnesses that were in the residence at the time of the incident did not corroborate her story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The suspect admitted to putting his finger in the victim\u2019s vagina, but said it was consensual. He stated that they were in the bedroom \u201cmaking out\u201d and he stopped when she told him that she did not want to have sex because she likes another boy in Orange Park.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharman did not include in his list a troubling allegation made by Adam Taylor and his best friend Jordan Herrington, though it did appear in the final report. Both boys said that a few weeks after the alleged attack, Brooke and her sister Amy accepted a ride to the beach from Adam, and later removed their bathing suit tops for him and Jordan. The girls denied the incident. According to their subsequent statements to FDLE, they had planned a beach outing with Ryan and were waiting for him to pick them up after school when Adam pulled up. Adam told the girls Ryan had sent him to get them and bring them back to Ryan\u2019s house. Brooke\u2019s sister Amy told investigators Brooke was \u201cvery reluctant\u201d to get in the car, but added that the time at which students were required to be off campus was approaching \u201cand they had no other ride.\u201d Amy told Folio Weekly that she pulled her sister into the backseat of the car, worried they\u2019d be stranded. Besides, she reasoned, Ryan\u2019s house \u201cwas only a mile from school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girls say Adam never took them to Ryan\u2019s house, instead driving them to Jordan\u2019s house in Baldwin, then down to a remote beach near St. Augustine, and back again to Jacksonville. At one point, he got a flat tire. Katherine told Folio Weekly that Brooke called her crying three times, the first time begging her mother to come and get her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine recalls the day well, and says, \u201cI get sick every time I think of that day,\u201d but adds she had no idea of the magnitude of what was happening. She says that Brooke had been extremely weepy in those weeks anyway — which is why she\u2019d thought a beach trip would be a good outing for her. She also says that neither she nor the girls had any idea where they were, and she assumed the girls would get home long before she could find them. She also didn\u2019t know what had happened between her daughter and Adam, and she assumed the girls would get home long before she could find them. When they called a third time, Katherine recalls, Adam was lost, and she had to direct him home from downtown Jacksonville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girls categorically deny that they ever took off their tops for the boys or did anything besides ride around with them. But Sharman noted the beach outing in his report, and in conversations with Folio Weekly, several officers with the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office pointed to the incident as proof that Brooke\u2019s story wasn\u2019t credible. \u201cVictims don\u2019t get in a car with someone who attacked them,\u201d commented one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a legitimate point, one which Folio Weekly asked both Brooke and Amy about at length. In the end, their mother may offer the best explanation: “She’s 14 years old. How many 14-year-olds do you know that have perfect judgment?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the girl\u2019s behavior may not be as inexplicable as it first appears. According to Psychologist James Vallely, part of the Child Protection Team for the Rape Crisis Center of Jacksonville, rape victims \u2013 particularly young ones \u2013 often put themselves back in harm\u2019s way with their assailants, and many are re-victimized. Because her sister was there, he adds, Brooke may have felt safer. But the fact that she showed a \u201cfear response,\u201d he says, \u201cin fact enforces her contention that she was attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Vallely says that for law enforcement to discount Brooke\u2019s allegations because of her subsequent behavior is \u201ctotally absurd \u2026 We know from years of research that a victim will act in nontraditional ways after an attack.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharman\u2019s report concluded, \u201cAssistant State Attorney Samuel Garrison stated that there are sufficient facts to support an arrest of the suspect in this case. However, due to the above listed reasons, the probabilities of successful prosecution are minimal. Therefore, the prosecutorial merit of the case is such that charges will not be pursued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201d The case was \u201cexceptionally cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Cannon* remembers the promise he made to God when his daughter Samantha was born: \u201cI would always protect her and take care of her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the work of protecting and caring for his daughters fell to Daniel. His wife, Jill, works 9-to-5, and because his full-time job is flexible, he has served as their primary caregiver for most of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictures of Samantha\u2019s Sweet 16 birthday party in March 2007 show a petite, pretty girl with long blonde hair and bangs that frame her blue eyes. She looks closer to 12 than 16. She looks happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few days after the pictures were taken, however, life for Samantha changed dramatically. Her father and mother would come to barely recognize the smiling teenager in the photographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to her parents, over a period of days, Samantha became sad, secretive and argumentative. Over the following few weeks, her grades plummeted. Her longtime friends were replaced by a group of obviously \u201ctroubled\u201d teens, and she seemed filled with self-loathing. Her MySpace page, which her parents monitored, reflected this change. The once self-confident, smiling girl now posted dark ramblings and referred to herself as \u201cdumb,\u201d \u201cstupid\u201d and a \u201cskank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl\u2019s parents placed her in counseling, but things didn\u2019t improve. The counselor confirmed that their daughter was suffering from depression, but offered no explanation about the cause or why she had changed so suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke\u2019s sister, Amy, was the first to find out. She knew Samantha only vaguely from school, but says the girl approached her at the Fleming Island Walmart during the Christmas holidays of 2007. She asked Amy what had happened to the boy who attacked her sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing,\u201d Amy spat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha stammered a reply: \u201cHe raped me.\u201d Hesitantly, she told Amy her story. She said she\u2019d been sexually assaulted by the same boy who attacked Brooke. She added that she knew of another girl whom the boy had raped, and still another that he\u2019d \u201cgotten rough\u201d with. Samantha didn\u2019t want anyone to know about her own experience, but Amy immediately told her mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after Christmas, in early January 2008, Katherine Jones contacted Sgt. Wagner and told him the girl\u2019s story. A report generated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement identifies Samantha\u2019s attacker as Adam Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Katherine, Wagner explained that Adam Taylor\u2019s dad was now running for Clay County Sheriff. Given the potential political implications, he said it would be best if the case were turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Because Mike Taylor had worked in FDLE\u2019s Jacksonville office for nine-and-a-half years, they referred the matter to FDLE headquarters in Tallahassee. They, in turn, passed it along to the executive branch of FDLE, controlled by Gov. Charlie Crist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 13, FDLE called Samantha. She agreed to be interviewed later that day at Fleming Island High School. According to FDLE\u2019s investigative report completed April 10, Samantha and her close friend, Iris, were at her house in late March or early April, 2007, when she got a text message from Adam Taylor. Samantha told investigators she\u2019d been friends with Adam\u2019s younger brother for some time, and had met Adam through a mutual friend some weeks earlier, but had never dated or been intimate with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Samantha\u2019s statement to FDLE, Adam asked if he and his friend Bud Knight could come over and \u201chang out,\u201d and Samantha agreed. In his statement to FDLE, Bud said Adam told him on the way to Samantha\u2019s house that he was going \u201cso he could have sex with\u201d her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the boys arrived, Samantha invited them in. All four went upstairs to Samantha\u2019s room where the boys watched TV and the girls folded laundry. According to the FDLE report, after a while, Iris, Bud and Adam went to get something to eat. (Bud told FDLE that, in fact, \u201cTaylor indicated that he and [Samantha] wanted some privacy.\u201d) The three headed downstairs, but a few moments later, Samantha told FDLE, Adam returned to the bedroom, locked the door and pushed Samantha down on the bed. He yanked her pants down, but she immediately pulled them back up. Adam pulled off his own pants and boxers, then pulled her pants off again. He held her down and raped her. According to the report, Samantha \u201ccontinued to say \u2018no\u2019 as Adam Taylor responded \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d The girl told investigators that she tried to scream, but he covered her mouth. When he was done, Samantha told investigators he pulled his pants up and warned her, \u201cDon\u2019t tell anyone about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha said she screamed at him to get out of her house. He did: He walked out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and left with his friend. Bud told investigators that Adam had gotten what he\u2019d come for: \u201csex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha came downstairs a few moments later and told her friend what had happened. Iris confirmed the story to investigators, along with an incident that occurred shortly after the teens left. A few minutes after the boys left, Samantha\u2019s phone rang. The caller ID read, Adam Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the FDLE report, \u201c[Iris] advised that [Samantha] handed her the telephone and stated she did not want to talk to him. [Iris] stated that she answered the telephone only to hear Adam Taylor state, \u2018Don\u2019t tell anyone what happened.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha and her friend did keep the incident a secret. Partly, they were afraid of what Adam might do. Iris told investigators \u201cthe reason she never told anyone about the incident was because she was \u2018afraid\u2019 that Taylor might come back for her.\u201d But Samantha was worried about something else, too. \u201cMy dad always said he would kill anyone who hurt me,\u201d Samantha says in a low voice. \u201cI knew he would do it, too, then he\u2019d go to jail. I love my dad, and I couldn\u2019t do that to him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The February morning that Samantha told her story to investigators, she called her father to see if he was at work. Given his daughter\u2019s behavior over the previous 10 months, Daniel Cannon became suspicious. He left work and drove to his daughter\u2019s part-time job. She wasn\u2019t there, so he called her. She explained that she\u2019d had to leave work to be interviewed by an investigator from FDLE, but wouldn\u2019t tell him why. Daniel contacted FDLE himself. The news the FDLE agent gave Daniel made him physically ill. His first thoughts were of his daughter\u2019s welfare. His next thoughts were of killing Adam Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was supposed to keep her safe,\u201d he says, trembling with anger. \u201cThat animal came into my home and did this terrible thing to my little girl. And I wasn\u2019t there to protect her. Now she sleeps in the same place he attacked her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel\u2019s outrage doesn\u2019t stop there. He believes that the crime against his daughter was part of a pattern of behavior by Adam Taylor, and ultimately avoidable. \u201cIf Officer Sharman had just done his job,\u201d he adds, referring to the Brooke Jones investigation, \u201cthis terrible tragedy would not have happened to another girl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the course of their investigation of Samantha\u2019s case, FDLE spoke to one other girl who attested to a forced sexual encounter with Taylor. According to the girl\u2019s interview with FDLE, Taylor asked her to a car show in Jacksonville. She agreed, he picked her up in a car with two other boys — Jordan Herrington and a teen she didn\u2019t know. The girl told investigators she rode in the back seat with Adam. At one point, the girl said Adam instructed Jordan to pull over. When Jordan asked why, Adam replied, \u201cJust do it.\u201d When the car stopped, the girl told investigators that Adam began kissing her and grabbing her. She pushed him away, but he persisted, telling her to \u201cchill out\u201d and saying, \u201cdon\u2019t worry about it.\u201d She fought back, pushing him away and telling him \u201cno\u201d and \u201cstop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, the girl said, Jordan said, \u201cLet\u2019s just go,\u201d to which Adam replied, \u201cFine.\u201d They took off driving, and Adam moved back to his own side of the car. The girl said no one spoke the rest of the drive, and the teens took her straight home. Despite her statement to FDLE, when contacted by Folio Weekly, the girl flatly denied the incident ever happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fourth girl, who told several individuals that she\u2019d been raped by Adam Taylor, confirmed the story when contacted by Folio Weekly. However, the girl said she would deny the story if contacted by police. She said she couldn\u2019t let her parents know about it \u2013 \u201cit would kill my parents\u201d \u2013 and she knew if she spoke to police, her parents would find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the course of researching this story, Folio Weekly requested and reviewed many criminal and non-criminal records relating to Adam Taylor. However, on June 25, 2008, the teen\u2019s attorney Mark Sieron notified the State Attorney\u2019s Office that such records should be kept private. Noting that \u201cthis investigation involved conduct that allegedly occurred only while Adam Taylor was a juvenile,\u201d the attorney asserted that the files weren\u2019t public records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney\u2019s Office both declined to release additional records after receiving the attorney\u2019s letter. However, documents acquired before the decision, including incident reports from the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office and information from the State Attorney\u2019s Office, detail Adam Taylor\u2019s many experiences with the legal system \u2013 both as alleged perpetrator and alleged victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam\u2019s name first surfaced in law enforcement circles in May 2002, when he was 11 years old. The report, according to the records department of the State Attorney\u2019s Office, shows that he was charged with \u201cbattery.\u201d Folio Weekly contacted his victim, who confirmed the incident, but declined to discuss it on the record. Since Taylor was a juvenile, no details or disposition of the case were available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsequent records from the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office show that Adam Taylor ran away from home at least three times; a statement from his mother suggests it was more. The agency also has a case from December 2005 in which Adam Taylor accused his father of child abuse. The case originated with a call to the state Department of Children and Families\u2019 abuse hotline from a borrowed Orange Park cell phone. A county deputy was dispatched to Orange Park High School, where he interviewed Adam. The teen said he\u2019d returned home after running away, and that his father hit him in the face and knocked him down in the bathtub. He said when he attempted to flee, his father intercepted him in the foyer of their home and \u201cbody-slammed\u201d him to the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officer noted a \u201cswollen and bruised\u201d area on Adam\u2019s upper right cheek and said the teen also complained of tenderness on the back of his head and on his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Taylor agreed to give a statement to police with his attorney, Hank Coxe, present. In his statement, Mike Taylor explained that he had picked up his son, who had run away on Dec. 3, 2005, and took him back home. The elder Taylor said that he cuts his children\u2019s hair as a disciplinary measure, so he ordered Adam to the bathroom. There, Adam still displayed \u201ca severe attitude\u201d and gave his father a \u201cthousand-yard stare.\u201d The elder Taylor stated that his son \u201cclenched his fist and jaw and came off of the tub.\u201d Taylor said he struck the boy in \u201can openedhanded fashion,\u201d and when the boy tried to run away, he chased him and tackled him to the ground. Adam Taylor subsequently recanted his story, and the case was labeled \u201cunfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 11, 2006, according to a Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office incident report, Taylor instigated two fights in one day with a fellow high school student whom he believed had stolen money from his brother. The student denied stealing the money. Witnesses said both fights were violent and several students caught them on their cell phone recorders. The case was also \u201cexceptionally cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 23, 2007, according to the FDLE investigation, Adam Taylor was involved in another fight, this one with Bud Knight (the same teen who accompanied him to Samantha\u2019s house). According to Bud\u2019s mother, Lisa, the two boys were once good friends. Adam routinely spent the night, and they hung out after school. But a misunderstanding over a girl led to a violent conflict in the front yard of Lisa\u2019s house. Witnesses contacted by Folio Weekly said it wasn\u2019t much of a fight\u2014that Adam simply got Bud in a headlock and pummeled him. But the outcome was plain: Bud was missing a front tooth, and his shirt was covered in blood. (His mother saved the shirt, grisly proof of the crime.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa was determined to press charges, but says that Adam Taylor\u2019s father urged her not to. She says Mike Taylor pointed out that Bud was already on probation for a marijuana charge, and that he could go to jail if he was found to have participated in the altercation. He said if she dropped the charges, he would pay her son\u2019s dental bills up to $2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Lisa told Folio Weekly, the money didn\u2019t come close to paying for Bud\u2019s $10,000 worth of dental work, including failed bone grafts to repair his missing tooth. But Lisa says the elder Taylor was very convincing. \u201cHe was a police officer,\u201d she offers. Besides, she was scared for her son, and as a single mother, she had no idea how she was going to pay for her son\u2019s dental bills. She agreed to drop the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a \u201cshow of good faith,\u201d the senior Taylor said he would bring Lisa a down payment. To her surprise, he also brought a document for her to sign. The paper \u201ccompletely releases and forever discharges the Defendant (Michael and Tari Taylor) of and from any and all past, present or future claims, demands, obligations, actions, causes of action, rights, damages, costs, loss of service, expenses and compensation which the plaintiff (Lisa Knight) now has, or which may hereafter accrue or otherwise be acquired by plaintiff, on account of the physical altercation.\u201d Lisa signed the document, and her son\u2019s case against Adam was \u201cexceptionally cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early December 2007, Taylor was involved in another police matter \u2013 an apparent high school hazing ritual. According to a Sheriff\u2019s Office report, Taylor, his younger brother and another student accosted a fellow wrestler who was on crutches, carried him into the wrestling room and held him down while Adam Taylor took his pants down and \u201crubbed his balls\u201d in the boy\u2019s face. Reports indicated that the younger Taylor filmed the incident, which was later posted on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victim\u2019s family reported the incident to the school. Because hazing is a felony in Florida, the school\u2019s resource officer began an investigation. Each member of the wrestling team submitted to an interview, except the Taylor brothers, who invoked their right to an attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folio Weekly interviewed Mike Taylor for a story about the incident (\u201cHazing High,\u201d Dec. 11, 2007). He described the incident as an \u201cinitiation\u201d that all freshman wrestlers go through. He added that Sheriff Beseler had \u201cmade a big deal\u201d of it since he was challenging Beseler for sheriff and Adam was his son. (His noted that Adam \u201cmight be in line for the Olympics in wrestling,\u201d and he did not want this incident to \u201churt his chances.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the family of the victim chose not to press charges. Adam Taylor went to the home of the victim and apologized. The State Attorney\u2019s Office again \u201cexceptionally cleared\u201d the case, and left the matter up to Clay County School Superintendent David Owens. He suspended the boys for a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Samantha and Brooke say that seeing Adam Taylor after the attacks was humiliating and scary. Although Brooke had transferred to Orange Park High School, Adam\u2019s then-girlfriend went there, too. Both girls played on the school\u2019s volleyball team. According to Katherine Jones, he showed up at several of the games, boldly sitting in the bleachers mere feet from the Jones family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach time my child looked into the bleachers at her family, she had to see Adam looking at her,\u201d Katherine says with a loud exhale. \u201cIt was [as bad as] intentional torture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine also says that after they reported the incident to police, she twice saw Taylor\u2019s black Ford Explorer parked across the street from the family\u2019s home \u2013 even though they live in a gated community with limited access. Katherine felt it was deliberate intimidation and reported it to the Sheriff\u2019s Office. She was assured that Adam Taylor\u2019s attorney would advise the teen to stay away from the home. However, Det. Sharman made no note of Katherine\u2019s complaint in his report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha, too, felt intimidated. In May of this year, while the investigation was still underway, Samantha received a text message from her boyfriend\u2019s phone while they were at school. \u201cI want sex,\u201d the message said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furious, Samantha immediately called her boyfriend. He told her that Adam Taylor had taken his phone and sent the text. He also said Adam told him he should convince Samantha to drop the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Daniel Cannon learned of the incident, he was livid. He contacted Julie Schlax, director of the State Attorney\u2019s Office\u2019s Special Assaults Unit and the prosecutor handling the case. Schlax said she would notify Taylor\u2019s attorney. (There was no mention of the incident in the State Attorney\u2019s case file.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately a week later, Schlax called Daniel. \u201cIt is with a heavy heart I tell you this,\u201d Daniel recalls Schlax saying. \u201cThe State Attorney\u2019s Office feels it would be better for your daughter not to pursue the case against Adam Taylor.\u201d Schlax went on to say that her office had received a letter saying that Samantha had become quite promiscuous of late. Schlax acknowledged that she hadn\u2019t talked to any specific boys to verify the claim, but added that she and State Attorney Harry Shorstein thought it best for Samantha to let the case drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel vehemently disagreed. He told Schlax that the family wanted to pursue his daughter\u2019s case, letter or no letter. And he noted that prosecutors hadn\u2019t even bothered to check out the claims before deciding to drop the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to go forward,\u201d Daniel told Folio Weekly. But prosecutors had made their decision. Says Daniel, \u201cWe weren\u2019t even given a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news that there would be no charges filed against Adam Taylor hit one of his victims especially hard. With the investigation against Adam ongoing, her parents say, she finally seemed to be recovering. But, in May, when the State Attorney\u2019s Office dropped the case, she spiraled downward. In early June, she attempted suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the girl was still in the hospital, her therapist suggested she write Adam Taylor a letter. \u201cI hate you,\u201d the girl wrote. \u201cI wish you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke is in therapy and spends a lot of time at her church. Her mother says she has become fixated on working out, trying to \u201cbe strong,\u201d in case someone attempts to \u201churt\u201d her again. Daniel Cannon says his own daughter\u2019s depression has worsened, and she\u2019s exhibited some \u201cextreme\u201d problems. Samantha, who swears she was a virgin when the attack occurred, has nothing left of her once-youthful innocence. Her face, though quite pretty, lacks spirit. And while she once seemed years younger than her age, she now exhibits a wariness that makes her seem much older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both pairs of parents say they will fight to see Adam Taylor punished. But as the race for Clay County Sheriff heats up, they\u2019ve found their motives increasingly dismissed as political. Mike Taylor\u2019s supporters suggest that Beseler supporters started the \u201crumors\u201d about Adam Taylor in order to discredit his dad. The families of the girls insist they have no link to Sheriff Beseler, but they admit that their anger and frustration has given them an interest in seeing Mike Taylor defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The families also believe that politics played a role in the State Attorney\u2019s decision not to prosecute. They note Harry Shorstein\u2019s very public disputes with Sheriff Beseler as well as his close ties to former Sheriff Scott Lancaster, a staunch supporter of Mike Taylor. The families suggest that Shorstein\u2019s office has a vested political interest in Taylor\u2019s candidacy. In his letter to Gov. Crist, Daniel Cannon cites the families\u2019 suspicion that \u201c[State Attorney Harry] Shorstein\u2019s decision not to prosecute this young man was the result of political persuasion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine Jones says that while she doesn\u2019t have any strong feelings about Beseler, she plans to campaign against Mike Taylor. \u201cHe should abandon his political efforts and focus his energies on seeking help for his deeply disturbed son,\u201d she says. Daniel Cannon agrees. \u201cI was never into politics,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I am now. If a man can\u2019t control his own son, how can he control hundreds of men?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Clark Armstrong Folio Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two girls say they were sexually assaulted by the same well-connected Clay County teenager. The State Attorney\u2019s Office has declined to prosecute. By: Susan Clark Armstrong Folio Weekly * The names of the victims, their family members and some witnesses have been changed. \u201cLife changed in an instant.\u201d Seated in her brightly lit family room, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDon't Bother - The Fifty Shades of Clay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thefiftyshadesofclay.com\/index.php\/2008\/07\/29\/dont-bother\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't Bother - The Fifty Shades of Clay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two girls say they were sexually assaulted by the same well-connected Clay County teenager. 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