News Editor
An investigation into inappropriate behavior with a child led to the arrest of a Blountstown man this week.Edmond Nicholas Taylor, 34, has been charged with showing obscene material to a minor child.
According to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, the mother of a seven-year-old boy told authorities Taylor was a new neighbor who had befriended her and her children. She said her son had gone to Taylor’s home and watched television with him before, but recently began acting strange around Taylor and refused to go with him. The woman questioned her son and said he told her Taylor had touched his private parts. The child provided details to a Department of Children and Families investigator about an alleged incident with Taylor.
Lt. Mark Mallory and DCF Inv. Barbara Bodiford interviewed Taylor who indicated he had babysat the woman’s two children, but never had either of them with him alone. He said he only watched the children in his home once about a week before Christmas. Lt. Mallory asked Taylor if he knew of anything about the children that concerned him and he responded he did not.
It was then disclosed to Taylor that one of the children alleged he had touched him inappropriately. Investigators then told Taylor a medical exam was going to be conducted on the boy and, at this point, Taylor offered that the boy had spent the night with him alone about a week before Christmas and they watched movies together on a sofa bed. He said the boy confided in him during that visit that his cousins had sexually abused him.
Lt. Mallory then questioned Taylor about the discrepancies in his story, first denying he had never had the children for more than a few hours, stating he never kept either child alone, and failing to mention he had ever had the child spend the night at his home in the same bed with him. Lt. Mallory also pointed out that Taylor never mentioned the alleged child abuse involving the boy’s cousins when asked if anything concerned him about the children. Taylor admitted he never told anyone about the boy’s claims of sexual abuse by his cousins, including failing to mention it to the boy’s mother.
A search warrant was issued for Taylor’s home after the child described watching pornographic videos of boys engaged in sexual acts and referred to a mannequin Taylor kept in his home named Lola. A search of the home turned up two DVDs with gay pornography and the mannequin the boy described. The computer search history revealed someone had been searching topics such as “preteen nude boys.” The computer was seized and sent to the FDLE crime lab for further analysis.
Taylor is being held without bond in the Calhoun County Jail.