HIV-Positive Teacher Allegedly Molested 7-Year-Old, Then Hired Hitman To Kill Boy, Family

An HIV-positive Missouri teacher, who was accused of molesting a seven-year-old student at school in 2015, hired a hitman to kill the boy and his family, police said Thursday.

Deonte Taylor, 36, worked as a teaching assistant at an elementary school in 2015 when he took the-then seven-year-old boy to another room in the school and molested him. He also made the unidentified student perform oral sex on him. The boy’s family filed a police complaint right away; however, no charges were filed.

Meanwhile, Taylor got a teaching certificate and landed a job in another school district, where he taught the fifth grade.

When asked about recruiting Taylor, the Ferguson-Florissant School District spokesperson said, "Mr. Taylor went through the same process that all of our teaching candidates go through. Everyone goes through a criminal background check, sexual abuse registry background check and there was nothing that showed up on that,” NBC-affiliated television station KSDK reported.

In November 2018, Taylor’s DNA was found to have matched with the samples found on the student after which he was taken into custody and charged with statutory sodomy.

According to the charging document, while awaiting the trial in prison, Taylor asked his fellow inmate to kill the boy and his parents after he was released. Taylor also convinced his boyfriend Michael Johnson, 66, to pay the hitman, which he did. However, the inmate soon became a police confidant and exposed Taylor’s plan. Taylor and Johnson were then charged with “conspiracy to commit murder” and “attempting to tamper with a victim.”

Taylor and Johnson appeared in court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to multiple charges. They were held in prison without bond.

A GoFundMe page was launched by Cindy Malott, director of Advocacy Services at Crisis Aid International, in order to help the victim’s family cover the expenses they had over the past three years.

“I am a victim advocate that was originally connected with the family through law enforcement to provide crisis intervention, advocacy and support services. I am seeking to raise funds for the victim, his mother, and his family who have struggled financially and emotionally since the original incident in 2015. For the child victim's privacy and safety I am not identifying the victims,” the page reads.