Jeffrey Turner Taylor, former youth minister at The Falls Church Anglican in Northern Virginia, has been indicted on federal charges of enticing minors to engage in illegal sexual activity and traveling with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity with minors.
Falls Church Anglican (photo via FB) / Insert of Jeffrey Turner Taylor (undated, via court documents)
Taylor served at the church from 1990 to 2002 and allegedly sexually groomed and molested multiple boys by engaging in sexual horseplay, questioning them about their sexuality and providing details about his own sexual activity.
Taylor also allegedly took boys with him to ministry events in other states or countries, intending to engage in illicit sexual activity.
The Washington Post published a lengthy report in January 2025 detailing the abuse. Taylor’s attorney, Christopher McDowell, told the Post that his client had not worked for any religious organization in more than 15 years and that Taylor didn’t want to share his “employment information” because “people have contacted his employers in the past regarding these allegations.”
After leaving The Falls Church, Taylor served as a youth minister at two other churches in Atlanta, where court documents allege his grooming and abuse continued until 2008.
The Falls Church was an Episcopal congregation when Taylor served there but later joined the Anglican Church of North America.
The church began its investigation into Taylor in 2023 and said it provided information to law enforcement about Taylor’s alleged illegal sexual activity.
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In April 2024, the church published a special investigation report by Edward Isler of the Isler Dare law firm on its website. The executive summary stated that Taylor, while employed with the church, engaged in inappropriate behavior, sexual grooming and sexual abuse.
“The investigation also determined that, during the years that Taylor was employed, Church leadership had no knowledge or awareness that Taylor had engaged in acts of overt sexual abuse,” the report said.
In 2007, when church leadership first learned about one abuse allegation, the church took some remediation steps but “failed to take all of the necessary steps to determine whether there had been other victims of sexual abuse by Taylor.”
While the church believed the victims, confronted the accused — including by informing his then-employer in Atlanta — and tried to determine whether there were other victims, it should have provided more information to the congregation and more financial support for the victim’s therapy.
A February 2025 letter from the church wardens said that among the many lessons learned, “[W]e have learned that the pain and damage of sin can reverberate for generations, that caring for survivors requires sensitivity, wisdom, and training, and that there’s no fixed timetable for healing. And yet we hold to the hope that God, in his mercy, can restore and redeem.”
The Falls Church Anglican provides continuing care to those who were “impacted” by Taylor’s abuse, according to its most recent update.
“Our prayers have been, and continue to be, for the truth to come to light, for healing and care for those who were harmed, and for justice to be served. The FBI’s action is an important step in this regard,” the church posted on its website on Sept. 15.
If convicted, Taylor could face up to 105 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.
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