facebook-pixel

Ex-youth symphony director charged with sexually assaulting a teen musician in Utah County

A former longtime director for the Utah Valley Youth Symphony was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a teen musician more than a decade ago.

Brent E. Taylor, 70, was charged with forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony that carries a potential penalty of up to life in prison.

Utah County prosecutors wrote in charging documents that the accuser came to police earlier this year and reported he had been sexually abused by Taylor in 2004 and 2005.

The man said he was between 14 and 18 years old and a high school student when a “sexual grooming process” began with the orchestra director.

He described escalating encounters at Taylor’s residence, where he and other boys from the orchestra would spend time. The boys sat in Taylor’s hot tub, the man reported to police, and at times he hot-tubbed with Taylor naked.

The symphony director also offered the boys alcohol, pornography and sex toys, prosecutors allege.

“Mr. Taylor would reassure [the accuser] by talking about how it was natural for boys to be sexually curious and experimental,” prosecutors wrote in charging documents.

The criminal charge is in connection to one occasion in 2004 or 2005 when Taylor allegedly performed a sex act on the teen.

Prosecutors noted in charging documents that four other people have made delayed reports accusing Taylor of similar activity, but he won’t face any other charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

No court dates had been set as of Friday.