A Batesville man who was jailed earlier this month on a parole violation is now facing more serious charges after authorities allege his phone contained images of explicit conduct involving children
According to his arrest affidavit, Jessan Aaron Taylor, 34, is facing 15 felony counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. He is also being charged under the habitual offender law.
The affidavit said on Nov. 24, authorities monitored two calls by Taylor from a detention facility phone.
On the first call, Taylor allegedly requested an individual destroy his cell phone when that person told Taylor they had discovered the images on the phone after his parole violation arrest. Taylor also asked the individual “multiple times” to not turn over his cell phone to law enforcement and “not tell anyone about it,” the affidavit said.
In the second monitored call, the affidavit said Taylor contacted a friend and explained that he (Taylor) “…had been looking at pornography on the internet depicting 9, 10, and 11-year-old children,” and that Taylor wanted the friend to meet with the individual who had the phone and witness the individual destroy the phone.
On Nov. 28, a search warrant was granted for the phone. The affidavit said one folder on the phone contained 22 images, and that a “vast majority of the images was consistent with child sexual abuse material.”
Taylor (pictured below in his initial booking photo) is currently in the Independence County Jail on a bond of $65,000.
Image: Independence County Sheriff’s Department
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