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AMERICAN FORK — A Utah band director said Thursday he was groomed and abused for four years as a teenager by Brent Taylor, a now-retired director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony. He said over this time there were weekly occurrences of sexual experiences and manipulation by a man who "claimed to be" his mentor.
"The defendant had a way of making this all seem normal. ... Mr. Taylor employed a masterful and calculated process," the man said Wednesday.
It wasn't until he was teaching his own group of students when he said he came to a full realization of what had happened, and the significance of the moral, ethical and legal boundaries Taylor had crossed.
Brent Taylor, 76, was ordered Wednesday to serve a term of three years to life in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, in the man's case. The sexual abuse occurred between 2002 and 2006.
The victim listed multiple first names of other boys who he said he witnessed Taylor groom or abuse during that time and said he is sorry he did not come forward sooner. He brought his story to police days after a Deseret News investigation was published in 2018 with allegations against Taylor from six others.
'You are the betrayer'
Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin said he was "appalled" by a statement from Taylor in a report prepared before his sentencing where Taylor said he was betrayed by "a good friend." Griffin said that "friend" had been repeatedly victimized by Taylor.
"Mr. Taylor, you weren't betrayed, you are the betrayer. You betrayed children and their parents who trusted you to be their teacher and their mentor. They trusted you," he said.
He called Taylor a pedophile, a fraud and a coward for refusing to face a jury trial, which was scheduled to occur without him after he repeatedly did not appear in court. He was arrested and pleaded guilty after jury selection for his trial had begun.
Griffin said he was struck by the sophistication Taylor used in his grooming.
"You have earned a prison sentence. You've asked for leniency but you never showed any leniency toward your victims," the judge said.
Griffin also said Taylor's "nonsense" keeping his case from going to trial for over two years longer than necessary caused further harm to his victims. Griffin said Taylor would still be in Colorado if he had not ordered an independent medical investigation which showed he had faked a stroke and other medical conditions to get out of appearing in court.
Griffin said he plans to write a letter to the board of pardons recommending he not be granted parole, and that the board should not lighten his sentence on any medical grounds. The judge said he would include a copy of the independent medical report he ordered, which shows Taylor intentionally came to the appointment on a gurney and in an ambulance when he was capable of traveling by car.
A tragic legacy
Scott, another man who shared a statement at the hearing, began his comments by thanking Taylor for introducing music into his life.
"Yours could have been a name that I shared with my children as the man who inspired me in my formative years. Instead, every memory I have from that time is tainted, painful. It's a tragedy — not only what happened but what you did to your legacy. ... You could have been revered for generations, but any legacy you have left is one of pain," said Scott, who asked that his last name not be published.
Eric Bartlett said Taylor has taken years from his life. He said he thinks Taylor understood him better than anyone else, and saw his needs.
"He had an opportunity to fill those needs and to change my life, maybe even to save me from myself, but instead he exploited every single one of those voids in my life," Bartlett, who agreed to allow his name to be published, said Wednesday.
He said Taylor drove a wedge between him and his family.
"He told me he wanted to be my dad. Well, my dad never touched me the way Brent did," he said.
He said it angers him that Taylor is still affecting his family. Bartlett said Taylor's actions made him unavailable to his wife and children for more years than Taylor has left in his life, saying the maximum sentence "will not even touch justice."
Another man, Jeff, asked for a sentence that would ease victims' pain and help them find peace and forgiveness.
"We all know that there are many more of your victims watching these proceedings from the shadows," he said.
As he walked back to his seat, Jeff stared directly at Taylor, facing the man he said robbed him of 20 years of a life without fear and addiction. Jeff also asked that his last name not be published.
Taylor is also charged in Salt Lake County with two counts of sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, based on Jeff's report to officers. He has a hearing in that case on Sept. 5.
A request for jail and probation
Defense attorney Ashley Murphy asked the court to sentence Taylor to less than a year in jail and probation. She said Taylor wanted her to mention his mother is on hospice in Colorado and that he would like to see her again. She also said he is wheelchair-bound and has other health issues.
She reminded the judge that although multiple men testified about their experiences, he has, at this point, only been convicted of one charge.
Taylor also shared a short statement.
"I'm 76 years old, I'm in poor health. I ask the court for leniency and above all I apologize to everyone. I'm sorry," he said.
'They have overcome'
Deputy Utah County attorney Julia Thomas said everything was set to move Taylor's Utah County case to trial without him when he was finally arrested.
Taylor checked himself into a nursing facility in Colorado, and she said he was walking out of the facility after jury selection for the trial had started when he was arrested. She said he only pleaded guilty in the case to avoid hearing testimony against him in a trial, so she talked about the details of his crime during the sentencing so he would still need to hear about them in court.
She said he gradually lured people into his life with small jobs, would bring them into his home promising travel with the symphony and other things. Gradually he would introduce pornography, massages, naked hot-tubbing, masturbation and oral sex. She said he was careful in how he spoke, so the boys would think things were coming from them.
"In reality, he was using them for his own perverse sexual pleasures," Thomas said.
Thomas said she is aware of at least five victims, but estimates there are dozens. She said those who couldn't participate in the case "are not at fault."
"I hope this brings them some degree of the end, and that they can move on," the prosecutor said.
She said the men who shared comments at the sentencing are "survivors" of abuse that has long-term effects.
"They have overcome and risen above," she said.
Thomas said Taylor either has no concept of the effects of his crimes, or he doesn't care about them. She said either option is "monstrous."
"Whatever time he has left that he spends incarcerated isn't enough time. He has left these innocent people with a lifelong impact of his conduct and takes no responsibility for it even in the slightest," she said.
She said news reports helped bring Taylor's case forward years after the abuse. After charges were filed, the case took six years to resolve partially because of the pandemic and partially because of his "defrauding the court" with claims of medical problems.
