Accused Teacher Tries To Hire Hitman From Jail To Kill Student, His Mother

Clayton, MO – An HIV-positive St. Louis teacher accused of raping a seven-year-old boy is accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill the boy and his mother while he was sitting in jail awaiting trial.

Deonte Taylor was a teacher’s aide at Lusher Elementary School in 2015, when he allegedly sexually assaulted the young student, KSDK reported.

Court documents said that Taylor took the boy to another room, and made the child perform oral sex on him, according to FOX News.

The child immediately reported the sexual assault, but the case stalled after the detective who was handling it left the department.

Meanwhile, Taylor earned a teaching certificate and landed multiple teaching jobs, KSDK reported.

He ultimately ended up at Walnut Grove Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District (FFSD), where he was a fifth-grade teacher.

FFSD Spokesperson Kevin Hampton said that there were no red flags during Taylor’s background investigation.

“Mr. Taylor went through the same process that all of our teaching candidates go through,” Hampton explained. “Everyone goes through a criminal background check, sexual abuse registry background check and there was nothing that showed up on that.”

Taylor was arrested on three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy in November of 2018 after investigators confirmed that the DNA found on the victim belonged to Taylor, FOX News reported.

He has since been fired from his teaching position

But in February, the case against Taylor took an even more sinister turn.

That’s when he allegedly lined up a fellow inmate to murder his now-10-year-old victim and the child’s mother when the inmate was released from jail, KSDK reported.

The inmate told Taylor he would carry out the double homicide, but instead he became a confidential informant for investigators.

Meanwhile, an unwitting Taylor contacted his 66-year-old boyfriend, Michael Johnson, and told him to pay the released inmate to kill the boy and his mother, police said.

Johnson paid the fee, and was subsequently arrested on two counts of attempting to tamper with a victim in a felony prosecution and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Taylor was also charged with the same additional offenses.

Taylor and Johnson both pleaded not guilty to the slew of charges against them on April 17, KSDK reported.