A Baton Rouge man accused of raping a 94-year-old woman is allegedly linked to other sexual assaults

Jeremiah Taylor/YouTube screenshot

A 22-year-old man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, named Jeremiah Taylor, has been arrested for the rape of a 94-year-old woman.

According to District Attorney Hillar Moore, this new rape charge follows the dismissal of a separate case in which Taylor allegedly assaulted two other victims. Moore commented to WAFB, “In hindsight, I’d much rather have continued the case. I didn’t. I was not aware of the case at the time — obviously I am now — as opposed to just dismissing the charge, but that was a decision the ADA had made at the time, and unfortunately, he was released, and two months later someone else was sexually assaulted."

Jeremiah Taylor

The District Attorney explained that the earlier charges were dropped because they were unable to locate the victim. Despite their efforts to identify additional points of contact for her, they were unsuccessful. Moore stated, “We had like 10 different phone numbers that we tried, but the address that we thought she was living at was not the address that she was living at,” Moore said.

Last week, Taylor appeared before Judge Tarvald Smith regarding additional rape charges. He is now linked to four rapes through DNA evidence, including two other victims, the 94-year-old woman, as well as a sexual battery involving another victim, according to an arrest warrant filed Thursday morning.

Moore indicated that he will ask a grand jury to indict Taylor on four counts of first-degree rape, and his office will continue to seek a no-bond hold for the suspect. He stated, “I do not see him having any ability to make a bond under any circumstance at this point forward."

Taylor's former foster mother told WBRZ that he behaved sexually inappropriate towards her after she fostered him for several months when he was a teenager. She confirmed that she pressed charges against him, but those charges did not progress. The network also reported that Taylor sexually assaulted a family member.

Louisiana has some of the strictest sex crime laws in the United States, which include long mandatory minimum prison sentences, restricted parole eligibility, and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender. Previously, Louisiana required individuals convicted of sex crimes to have “sex offender” labeled on their identification.

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