“They trusted you”: Former symphony conductor sent to prison for sexually abusing a teenager 20 years ago

AMERICAN FORK — A Utah band director said Thursday he was abused and molested for four years as a teenager by Brent Taylor, a now-retired director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony, during which time he said there were weekly sexual encounters and manipulation by a man who “claimed” to be his mentor.

“The defendant managed to make everything appear normal. … Mr. Taylor used a masterful and calculated approach,” the man said Wednesday.

It was only when he was teaching his own group of students, he said, that he fully realized what had happened and the extent of Taylor's transgression of moral, ethical and legal boundaries.

Brent Taylor, 76, was sentenced Wednesday to three years to life in prison after pleading guilty to forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, in a sexual assault case that occurred between 2002 and 2006.

The victim listed several first names of other boys he observed in Taylor's grooming or abuse during that time and said he was sorry for not coming forward sooner. He brought his story to police days after a Deseret News investigation was published in 2018 that made six more allegations against Taylor.

“You are the traitor”

Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin said he was “appalled” by a statement Taylor made in a pre-sentence report in which Taylor said he had been betrayed by “a good friend.” Griffin said that “friend” had been repeatedly bullied by Taylor.

“Mr. Taylor, you were not betrayed, you are the traitor. You betrayed children and their parents who trusted you to be their teacher and mentor. They trusted you,” he said.

He called Taylor a pedophile, a fraudster and a coward for refusing to face a jury trial. The trial was scheduled to take place without him after he repeatedly failed to appear in court. He was arrested and pleaded guilty after jury selection for his trial began.

Griffin said he was impressed by the sophistication with which Taylor took care of his personal grooming.

“You deserve a prison sentence. You asked for leniency, but you never showed leniency to your victims,” ​​the judge said.

Griffin also said Taylor's “foolishness” in trying his case in court more than 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 examination that showed he faked a stroke and other conditions to avoid appearing in court.

Griffin said he would write a letter to the parole board recommending that he not be granted parole and that the board not reduce his sentence on medical grounds. The judge said he would attach a copy of the independent medical report he commissioned, which showed Taylor intentionally arrived at the appointment on a stretcher and in an ambulance, despite being able to drive.

A tragic legacy

Scott, another man who gave a statement at the hearing, began his remarks by thanking Taylor for bringing music into his life.

“Your name could have been a name I would have shared with my children as the man who inspired me in my formative years. Instead, every memory I have of that time is tainted and painful. It's a tragedy – not just what happened, but what you did with your legacy. … You could have been revered for generations, but your legacy is filled with pain,” said Scott, who asked that his last name not be published.

Eric Bartlett said Taylor cost him years of his life. He believes Taylor understood him better than anyone else and recognized his needs.

“He had the chance to meet those needs and change my life, maybe even save me from myself, but instead he took advantage of every single one of those gaps in my life,” Bartlett, who has agreed to have his name published, said Wednesday.

He said Taylor drove a wedge between him and his family.

“He told me he wanted to be my father. Well, my father never touched me the way Brent did,” he said.

He said it made him angry that Taylor was still affecting his family. Bartlett said Taylor's actions had left him inaccessible to his wife and children for more years than Taylor had left to live, and said the maximum sentence “doesn't even begin to do justice.”

Another man, Jeff, asked for a sentence that would ease the victims' pain and help them find peace and forgiveness.

“We all know that there are many more of your victims watching these events from the background,” he said.

As Jeff walked back to his seat, he stared straight at Taylor, the man he said robbed him of 20 years of a life free of fear and addiction. Jeff also asked that his last name not be published.

Taylor also faces charges in Salt Lake County of two counts of sodomy of 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 police. He has a hearing in that case on September 5.

Application for prison and probation

Defense attorney Ashley Murphy asked the court to sentence Taylor to less than a year in prison and probation. She said Taylor wanted her to mention that his mother is in hospice care in Colorado and that he would like to see her again. She also said he is wheelchair-bound and has other health problems.

She reminded the judge that although he had testified to several men about her experiences, he had only been convicted on one count.

Taylor also made a brief statement.

“I am 76 years old and in poor health. I ask the court for leniency and above all I apologize to everyone. I am sorry,” he said.

“You did it”

Utah County Assistant District Attorney Julia Thomas said when Taylor was finally arrested, everything was in place to bring the case to trial in Utah County without him.

Taylor checked himself into a Colorado care facility and said he was just about to leave the facility after jury selection for the trial began when he was arrested. She said he only pleaded guilty in the case to avoid testimony against him at a trial, so she talked about the details of his crime during the sentencing so he would still have to hear them in court.

She said he gradually lured men into his life with menial jobs, bringing them to his home and promising them symphony trips and other things. He gradually offered them pornography, massages, naked hot tub visits, masturbation and oral sex. She said he was careful about how he spoke so the guys would think the things were coming from them.

“In reality, he was using her for his own perverse sexual pleasures,” Thomas said.

Thomas said she knows of at least five victims, but estimates there are dozens. Those who were unable to attend the case are “not to blame,” she said.

“I hope this will bring some closure for them and that they can move on,” the prosecutor said.

She said the men who made comments at the sentencing were “survivors” of abuse with long-term effects.

“They overcame it and rose up,” she said.

Thomas said Taylor either had no idea of ​​the consequences of his crimes or did not care. She said both possibilities were “monstrous.”

“The time he still spends in prison is not enough. He has left a lifelong mark on these innocent people with his behavior and does not take the slightest responsibility for it,” she said.

She said news reports helped bring Taylor's case back to light years after the abuse. After charges were filed, the case took six years to resolve, partly because of the pandemic and partly because he “defrauded” the court with claims of health problems.