1440: James Taylor

James Ashley Taylor was elected to the Fort Pierce City Commission in 2024. In August, 2024, a mother in Evanston, Illinois, contacted local police to report than an adult man was carrying on inappropriate chats with her thirteen-year-old daughter and had sent nude pictures of himself. The conversations began when she was just twelve.

According to the arrest report, Taylor and the child had several conversations between June and August when the mother found out and went to the police. Eventually, they were able to trace the traffic back to Taylor. The complaint is online at the County Clerk’s office, but most of it is redacted.

Local police were contacted in May 2025 and they began their own investigation, confirming Taylor was the suspect by tracing his IP to his home. The Sheriff said that when they told Taylor the charges, he admitted it and expressed remorse.

Before he resigned, Governor DeSantis suspended him from office. He resigned while in jail. He was in jail four weeks, but after a hearing, his bond was cut from $15,000 for each of 24 charges to $7,500 for each of 22 charges. Two charges were dismissed.

• WPTV: Fort Pierce City Commissioner James Taylor arrested in child exploitation case, faces 24 felony counts
• WPTV: Former Fort Pierce city commissioner James Taylor posts bail after arrest on child exploitation charges

Case Number 2025CF001841 A
Uniform Case Number 562025CF001841AXXXSL