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Well, a pair of church leaders accused in a nationwide human trafficking case will remain in jail after appearing in federal court today.
One of the hearings was in Tampa, where Michelle Brandon declined to have a bond hearing instead, choosing to have the hearing in Michigan, where the case is actually based. In a court filing, prosecutors say that they want Brandon held until her trial. They wrote that she is a danger to others and worried that she may try to run. They also indicated that her home address was listed as a mansion in the affluent Avala neighborhood in North Tampa.
That property was one of four the country raided by federal agents yesterday. Authorities say the properties belong to David Taylor and his Kingdom of God, Global Church. Court documents indicate the church was operating nine call centers. One of them was actually at that Avala mansion. Investigators say unpaid workers were forced to solicit donations or face punishments including physical and psychological abuse and food and sleep deprivation.
The indictment alleges that Taylor made the rules, and Brandon, the church's executive director, forced them. The arrest came as a relief to a woman who says she was in a relationship with Taylor back in 2018. She says she ended it and wrote a book in 2020 trying to expose his abuse. This is just part of a video that she recorded yesterday.
"There were so many people that were taking advantage of, and I was one of them. I experienced firsthand the abuse, the lies, and the corruption of both of the individuals who were arrested today. What a shame they are to officiate churches and ministries who had the character and the humility of Christ."
According to the federal indictment, Taylor referred to himself as an apostle, claiming that he communicated with Jesus and that he could heal people through faith. But investigators say it was all a con. They say the church raised $50 million in donations over the last 12 years, and the investigators tell us the money funded extravagant lifestyles for Taylor and Brandon, who were the only ones receiving a salary.
Of course, there are still many questions about how this church was able to operate for as long as it did. Some have been watching and raising red flags for years. Let's bring in Fox 13's Genevieve Curtis, who spent the day digging into the church's past.
"Hi there, Genevieve, in our newsroom tonight. What did you find out here?"
"Yeah, Mark, there is a lot to go through, and those who keep an eye on ministries say that there were red flags with David Taylor and his church for years, but truly nothing of this magnitude. They have, frankly, from the very beginning, shown evidence of being a bad actor, a bad operator."
Warren Smith makes it his mission to keep faith leaders accountable. He's the president of Ministry Watch, a news outlet that tracks finances and actions of Christian ministries. They followed the actions of David Taylor and the Kingdom of God Global Church over the years, but Smith says the allegations contained in the federal indictment of forced labor and human trafficking were shocking.
"The level of evil, a level of wrongdoing that, um, even among some of the worst actors that we've been covering over the years here at Ministry Watch, and we've been around for 26 years, I don't believe I've ever seen anything quite like this."
The indictment alleges since 2014, the church amassed $50 million in donations, leading to questions about how it went on for so long.
"We are living in an oversight and accountability and regulatory regimen for nonprofits that was devised in the 1950s and 60s. It is completely inadequate for the number of nonprofits that we have in this country today. So I think one of the reasons, one of the ways that David Taylor was able to get away with it, was that they were just not being scrutinized by the government at all."
Authorities accuse Taylor and his right-hand, Michelle Brandon, of forcing workers to meet unrealistic quotas at the church's call centers, and they were punished when they didn't. A model used in third-world countries, but maybe the first known case in the U.S.
"And I think by understanding the mechanics of David Taylor's operation, we might be able to gain some insights into how to investigate or what to look for in some of these other situations that I'm aware of."
And there are still questions about how many people were forced to work in these conditions. Transcripts from a federal civil trial could give us some insight. Taylor and his church were sued by a Florida movie company over failing to pay. Last year, one of the church's pastors testified that they rely on 75 to 80 full-time volunteers to run the day-to-day operations. He also testified the church has thousands of volunteers in almost 200 nations around the world.
"So there are a lot of victims here, a lot of problems, a lot of damage done. But at least it's coming to light, and maybe we can learn a few lessons from it."
And in talking about those call centers, the church promotes its prayer line, which we called today, and people are still answering the phones for the church. So I reached out to the FBI field office to see if there are other locations that were not raided, if there are more victims that are still working for the church, answering those.