Last fall was an exciting time at Granite City High School. Adult staff members faced accusations of getting drunk with students, sexting students and having sex with students. What other institution of secondary learning could possibly compete with that? (And no, Glee's McKinley High doesn't count.)
Well, Belleville West High is making a run at the East Side crown. It already has last year's brutal school bus beating to its credit, but now it's expanding into the more rarefied realm of sex crimes.
Steve Taylor, a 49-year-old janitor, has been charged with soliciting sex from a 14-year-old relative after the girl's mother found suggestive voicemails on her cell phone. (It's unclear how Taylor and the girl are related.)
Reports the Belleville News Democrat:
The messages indicated Taylor wanted to get together with the girl and talk about "me and you." The messages ended with Taylor saying he loved the girl.Text messages from the girl in response to the man's advances showed she was trying to get him to leave her alone and was not at all interested in his solicitations. The investigation found Taylor had been attempting to engage the girl in a relationship for several years but had recently become more insistent on physical contact with her.
St. Clair County Sheriff's Investigator Scott Toth joined the investigation and after talking to the girl, and her family decided to let the girl meet up with Taylor in a home near Belleville. Law enforcement personnel put a safety plan into action and the victim set up a meeting with Taylor.
Undercover officers and investigators were at the home waiting for Taylor to arrive. They installed an undercover listening device in the living room where the girl was meeting Taylor and prepared for his arrival. Taylor arrived at the home and officers heard him tell the girl what he wanted to do with her sexually.
At this point, the officers emerged from the living room and took Taylor into custody. He offered no resistance when they cuffed him. He is currently being held on $75,000 bail in the St. Clair county jail. Officials at Belleville West declined to comment as to whether he'll still have a job when he gets out.
