Ex-Deputy Gets 43 Years in Sex Assaults of Girls

A dismissed sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Friday to 43 years in state prison for molesting his two young daughters and three other girls ages 5 to 12.

“You used whatever young girl was in your reach, so to speak, to satisfy your sexual urges,” said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith Chirlin in pronouncing sentence on Thomas Taylor, 37. “This case represents a true tragedy. It is the ultimate breakdown of the family.”

Taylor, of Thousand Oaks, received the maximum sentence on 19 counts of sodomy, oral copulation and lewd and lascivious conduct. Chirlin convicted both Taylor and his wife Kathy, 27, after a 20-day, non-jury trial that concluded in September.

Chirlin ordered Kathy Taylor to undergo a 90-day state diagnostic study pending her sentencing on charges of child endangerment. She faces a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Sought Maximum Terms

Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Morgan had sought maximum terms for both defendants, saying that Thomas Taylor deserved to face “serious consequences . . . so he can’t grab baby sitters, next door neighbors’ friends, whoever he can get ahold of for further molesting.”

However, defense attorney Robert Rentzer argued that Taylor was “a model to other deputies” and asked Chirlin not to impose the maximum sentence because of the deputy’s exemplary record of service.

A report by a county probation officer recommended a long prison term for both defendants. “The victims were multiple, the acts multiple and the crime both aggravated and heinous,” the report stated. “The damage will be long lasting and probably permanent.”

Chirlin agreed, saying that Taylor, who had been a deputy for four years and most recently served at the Malibu sheriff’s station, had scarred the lives of the children.

“For your own pleasure, you betrayed your own daughters and they will probably suffer for the rest of their lives,” the judge said.

‘Lived Two Lives’

She added that the Ohio native “lived two lives, inside the house and then outside the house--where you were a hard worker, a dedicated, law-abiding citizen.”

Chirlin told Taylor, a short and slight man who stared back at the judge, “You used your daughters for your own sexual gratification, yet you appear to me to show no remorse.”

Taylor was arrested in late 1984 after a 12-year-old victim told her mother that she had been fondled by Taylor and that she had learned of attacks by Taylor on his own 5-year-old daughter.

Taylor’s victims included his daughter from his marriage to Kathy Taylor, his daughter from a previous marriage, a baby sitter and two daughters of a friend who was living with the couple.

After his conviction, Taylor, who worked out of the Malibu sheriff’s station, was fired.