A wrongful child exploitation charge has left a man from Portage la Prairie scared for his life in the community where he was born and raised.
Scott Taylor was on the list of seven names provided to the public by the Manitoba RCMP on July 9 involving a Portage child trafficking case. Ten days later, authorities removed Taylor's name and dropped the charges against him, but the damage was already done.
"I can't even tell you how horrible this has been for me, my family and my friends," said Taylor. "My mental well-being and my stress is absolutely going through the roof. I'm afraid to even go home; I'm still in hiding right now. I feel that I'm not safe to even be in my own home in Portage. It's absolutely been awful and devastating."
Taylor had just returned from 21 days of working out of province and was getting ready to go to the rifle range with a few of his buddies. He was making coffee, preparing himself for the day, when he says five police cars pulled up and barged into his home to arrest him for crimes he didn't commit.
"They threw me in jail. I was in there for two and a half days, and I was locked up in there. There were so many things going through my head I absolutely couldn't even fathom it."
From there, Taylor contacted Criminal Defence Lawyer Matthew Gould, hoping to clear his name.
"He didn't do anything. They just got the wrong guy," said Gould.
"My lawyer did their investigations for them and found out that I was completely innocent in this matter, and then they dropped all these charges on me," added Taylor.
The resident of Portage was released from prison and was free of all charges, but unfortunately he was not free from the court of public opinion as his name was still being slandered on social media and death threats have been coming his way. His house has been spray painted to say 'certified pedophile,' and Taylor himself was assaulted, being punched in the face.
"I mean, I guess the whole town has seen the damage that's been done to my home. I've had nothing but death threats and other horrible things towards me. I just can't believe that the community I love so much would do this to me," Taylor continued. "I would like a formal apology from the RCMP. That would be nice. I mean, I haven't heard anything yet from them. I'm not the greatest speaker here, but the damage has been done; I just want to get back to my life again, and I just hope that something like this doesn't happen to anyone else in our community."
Although his name has been cleared, Gould says all of this very public hate has left Taylor scared to go home.
"He feels like his reputation is ruined, and understandably so. Keep in mind he's innocent. They just got the wrong guy. The unfortunate reality is that you cannot unring that bell. Once this is out there, even with a correction, even with an apology, which is all that Scott has asked for so far, an apology, but even with that, he can't be made whole again. I can't say enough, Scott Taylor is innocent."
Gould says that this case underscores the responsibility that the police have when pursuing severe charges like this.
"If there is some explanation why they charged him, that hasn't been provided to me. All I can do is say my assessment and opinion from the information I've been able to secure. And from that, it is not understandable how this happened."
