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The Azle Police Department got its man. Handcuffed and subdued, Eugene Harris Taylor, 59, of Fort Worth, was escorted into the Azle City Jail the morning of Oct. 29 and officially charged with indecency with a child.
Taylor, a former Aledo bus driver, is being accused of indecency with a 15-year-old Aledo High School girl who knew him as her longtime bus driver.
The girl told Aledo Independent School District Police, then Azle police, that Taylor sexually assaulted her after she caught a ride with him to a varsity football game between Azle and Aledo Oct. 9. According to an arrest affidavit, the girl met Taylor in the Aledo High School parking lot before the game. She said she didn’t have a ride to the game and Taylor, a man she knew as her bus driver, had agreed to give her a ride. However, things got strange pretty quickly.
Taylor first told her that they would be traveling alone in a box truck which was carrying band equipment to the game. Then, just before leaving, Taylor told the girl that if anyone questioned her, she was to call herself “Sarah” and that she was his granddaughter. During the trip, Taylor allegedly made inappropriate comments. When they arrived in Azle, he told the girl to keep her head down so no one would see her. After parking the truck, Taylor made sexual advances. Taylor left the truck for a moment, which gave the girl time to contact a friend on her cellphone. The friend told her to get out of the truck, which she did. Taylor later caught up with her and asked her to come back with him after the game. She told him she already had a ride. Aledo ISD police were later contacted and conducted some initial interviews. Since the incident occurred in Azle, the case was turned over to the Azle Police Department. Azle Police Detective Kevin Rogers tried several days to contact Taylor on the telephone. He even knocked on the door of Taylor’s Fort Worth home, but no one answered. Rogers and his officers, assisted by Aledo ISD Chief Chaun Gilliland and his staff, maintained a stakeout at Taylor’s home. Then, arrest warrant in hand, Rogers waited for Taylor to come outside, which he finally did. When Taylor went to check his mail, Rogers tried to arrest him. Taylor ran back inside his home but was quickly handcuffed and brought back to Azle. Taylor’s charge is a second degree felony which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Although the bond had originally been set at $75,000, Taylor was allowed to go free on a $15,000 bond. The case is now has now been forwarded to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office. Azle Police Chief Steve Myers said his department, plus Aledo ISD police, are checking to make sure there are no other incidents involving Taylor and other students. Gilliland said as of yet, there is no evidence of that. “The only thing we’ve gotten so far is inappropriate language and inappropriate conversations with students,” he said. “You just have to make sure there are no other incidents out there.” A criminal background check on Taylor through the Texas Department of Public Safety website revealed that he had been arrested in 1970 in Bexar County on suspicion of assault. However, Gilliland said he called the Bexar District Clerk’s office a few days ago and found out that the case had been “esponged” from records and should not have still be on the DPS website. Dallas County Schools, which contracts to provide bus drivers for Aledo ISD, has since fired Taylor. A criminal trespass warrant has been placed on him by Aledo ISD to keep him off school grounds. Gilliland complemented the Azle Police Department for “going above and beyond” to investigate the case. “From everything we’ve seen, we’ve got a real solid case,” he said. “I don’t see this case going anywhere but a plea bargain.” Myers said from what he’s heard, the victim has been doing pretty well. “It’s a shame kids have to be in a situation like this,” he said. “It’s a shame they’re not able to trust certain people – to feel safe with certain people.” |
