IMG Academy teacher charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student
An IMG Academy teacher has been charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student.
Aware of the pending charges and after evading detectives for days and leaving the state, Taylor J. Anderson surrendered Monday at the Manatee County Jail. She is charged with sexual battery by custodial authority, traveling to meet a minor and transmission of harmful material to a minor.
On Sept. 14, detectives with the sheriff’s office’s Crimes Against Children unit learned of the allegations. After hearing the rumors, school administration confronted the student in question and teen admitted to having sex with Anderson, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
IMG Academy, a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, banned Anderson from campus that same day after learning of the sexual relationship.
“As soon as school leadership was made aware of the alleged sexual incident between Ms. Anderson and a student, we immediately suspended Ms. Anderson, contacted the student’s family, and reported the incident to local authorities. We terminated Ms. Anderson’s employment the following day,” IMG Academy said in a statement released to the Bradenton Herald. “Our focus now is on providing support for our student and his family.”
New to the school, Anderson was hired in January to teach English, IMG Academy confirmed.
Anderson moved to Manatee County in 2018, where she lives with her husband and their 6-year-old son, her defense attorney, Jennifer Fury, detailed during a first appearance hearing Tuesday afternoon. In 2016, Anderson was nominated for Teacher of the Year in Missouri and she is currently working on her second master’s degree.
Manatee County Judge Jacqueline B. Steele ordered that Anderson remain held at the Manatee County Jail — citing a note from the presiding judge on the arrest warrants that bond be set at an Arthur hearing. At an Arthur hearing, both sides argue whether a 1980 Florida Supreme Court ruling can be applied to allow for the defendant to be held in pretrial detention without bond if “the proof of guilt is evident and the presumption of guilt is great.”
Fury intends to argue at the hearing that the case law does not apply because Anderson does not face a mandatory life sentence, but rather up to life in prison.
Anderson’s only known criminal history is a 2017 charge for driving under the influence in Kansas City, Missouri. A prosecutor had argued for a high bond on the sexual battery charge, based on the alleged facts and because of Anderson’s multiple ties outside the community.
According to Fury, Anderson has a summer home in Portugal but should not be considered a flight risk since she surrendered herself. Additionally, the defense was agreeable to Anderson’s passport be surrendered and that she be placed on any type of monitoring as part of her release in addition to a more affordable bond. Fury also said she would not argue against a no-contact order with minors as long as it didn’t include Anderson’s son.
“The allegations in this are that the alleged victim is 17 years old. He will be 18 in March,” Fury went on to say.
Investigation reveals details of sexual relationship
Rumors had been circulating among students since July after the student was overheard talking about the sexual relationship with Anderson, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Detectives interviewed the student last week when they first began investigating the case, learning that the two had first began communicating through Instagram after the student learned that Anderson had communicated with another student through Instagram. At some point in July or August, the two had agreed to met up, having already talked about having sex.
Anderson picked the student up from home and took him to Culver’s before heading out to a Manatee County beach. But Anderson and the student did not go to the beach, the teen told detectives. While parked at the beach, she and the victim had sex in the backseat of her car.
The victim also told the detectives that they had communicated through Instagram, Snapchat and using Facetime throughout July and August, according to the warrant affidavit.
Detectives worked quickly to obtain search warrants, knowing that there was potential evidence that needed to be seized on Anderson’s phone. After obtaining search warrants for her home, car and cell phone, detectives seized Anderson’s cell phone on Sept. 15 and crime scene investigators processed her car for potential evidence.
Here’s what was found on their phones
Anderson’s phone only produced evidence of calls between her and the victim from early August. But the student and his family also allowed the victim’s phone to be forensically analyzed for evidence.
On the victim’s phone, detectives found two Facetime videos from July 24 and Aug. 24. In the first, the victim and teacher can both be seen masturbating and Anderson is wearing an IMG Academy shirt before exposing her breasts. In the latter video, Anderson is seeing masturbating on her bed while he watches.
Two other videos found on the student’s phone are taken from the backseat of what appears to be Anderson’s car, while she is driving.
The student eventually stopped speaking with Anderson, telling detectives it “became weird when she wanted (redacted) to watch and look up videos depicting scenes in which younger (redacted) have sexual relations with older females and Taylor wanted (redacted) to live (redacted) fantasy,” according to the affidavit.
With enough evidence for a basis of probable cause, detectives were able to obtain an arrest warrant charging Anderson.
But when detectives tried to arrest Anderson at her home, she wasn’t there. Detectives kept in communication with her attorney, including an update of the pending charges, and on Monday she turned herself in.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
