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SALT LAKE CITY — The former director of a Utah County youth orchestra accused of sexually abusing three boys about 30 years ago was ordered Monday to wear an ankle monitor.
Brent E. Taylor, 70, who retired in June 2017 after more than four decades with the Utah Valley Youth Symphony, is charged in 3rd District Court with sexually abusing a former employee and another boy in Sandy in the mid-1980s, starting when they were 12 and 13 years old. He also faces charges in Utah County of engaging in sexual behavior with a then-teenage musician from 2002-06.
Taylor, who now lives in Colorado, made his initial appearance in court Monday before 3rd District Judge Keith Kelly, along with his attorney, Cara Tangaro. Because of his out-of-state residency, health issues and the fact the crimes allegedly happened in 1984, Kelly supported an agreement reached between prosecutors and Taylor that he remain free pending his court proceedings, but that he must wear an ankle monitor.
The judge also ordered Taylor not to have contact with anyone under 18 and to surrender his passport.
Jeff, a former employee of the symphony and one of Taylor's alleged victims who asked that his last name not be published, told the judge that he believes Taylor continues to pose a threat to the community.
"I've continued to think that, and that's why we've pressed so hard with the way we've gotten to this point. We've been working on it for 15 years. We feel pretty happy with where we're at," he said after the brief hearing was concluded.
As long as Taylor's passport is surrendered so he can't flee the country, Jeff said he supports the pretrial release conditions.
"The judge made the right decision to protect the community and kids that are in harm's way by keeping an ankle monitor (on Taylor)," he said.
Kelly ordered Taylor to immediately report to pretrial services following Monday's hearing. Tangaro said her client, who used a cane to walk, is scheduled to be booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday and then be released.
Taylor and his attorney declined comment outside the courtroom. She has previously said that her client maintains that he did not abuse anyone.
"Brent's denying that he's ever sexually abused and/or was sexually inappropriate with any children," she said.
Taylor is charged in Salt Lake County with two counts of sodomy upon a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. He is charged in Provo's 4th District Court with forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, in a separate case.
Taylor's next court hearing in the Sandy case is scheduled for Jan. 28. His initial appearance in the Provo case is scheduled for Tuesday.
Taylor was the focus of a Deseret News investigation published in April outlining sexual misconduct accusations from six men. Three of them said Taylor either sexually abused them or inappropriately touched them when they were teenage employees of the orchestra.
A fourth man also recalled sexual interactions with Taylor as a young teen and said the man provided him with alcohol and marijuana. Another accuser filed a police report in 2011 alleging that his brother-in-law had been abused by Taylor as a youth. A sixth man, also a former orchestra employee, described lewd activities at Taylor's home when he spoke to police in 2011.
The alleged victim in Provo's criminal charge is not one of those six men. Two days after the Deseret News story about Taylor was published in April, he told Provo investigators about repeated sexual encounters with Taylor during his high school years, from 2002 to 2006, when he was a member of the symphony, charging documents state.
