Transcription
Thank you for talking to us today. Thank you for sharing your story with us, um, and I know it's not gonna be easy, so it's gonna be hard. It's already making you emotional.
It is why? Because when I spoke out against this monster, I have so many people saying you're you're just a woman scorn. He cheated on you, got, he got names of a couple of women. But I knew it was more than that. I knew it was more than that, and um. I, I got criticized. I got, I mean, just people just thought I was crazy, but I knew, I knew this man was a wicked man, and I spoke out. And uh, when I, I went on social media. Uh, I never got caught because as a Christian recording artist, you shouldn't be doing what I did with this man. I, I didn't get caught in anything. God spoke to me. He said, Vicky, you need to confess to the world. You're a gospel recording artist. You're with this man. He has convinced you that you are in an OK relationship because he's best friends with Jesus and he's immune from all of that and you're gonna be OK, he said. I mean, God just really get. And I would say stuff to David. David, this ain't right. He said, always it's, it's OK. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm best friends with Jesus. But being a preacher's kid, you know, I, I knew, I knew it was wrong and so I spoke out and I, I, it's actually still on the internet. It's about 20 minutes and I just told everybody what was going on.
Within 3 weeks, over, I stopped counting at 100 women that told me that they were in a relationship with David. Um, many of them said they were his wife. Um, they said that, um, he, um, said to keep it just between them because church people are messy. That's what he told me. Church people are messy, Vicky, and you know I'm gonna marry you one of these days with just, you know, um. Don't tell anybody. And so all these women are out there thinking that this man is gonna be the one that's that they're gonna marry, loves loves them. He, he, there was times he would text me and um, it would just say, hey, what's going on, baby, or whatever and I would respond. He wouldn't say nothing back and then the next day you'd get, you know. And so one time I remember saying, David, you, we're supposed to get married at some point, um. We haven't talked in 3 weeks. He said, oh, he, he finally would call me. He said, I don't know about us. He said, you just seem very unstable. And I said, well, maybe you're right, you know, you're so busy doing the things of God and and you're you're traveling and and I, I'm sorry that I. That I, I, I guess I was asking too much, you know, so that I'm back out again, you know. And so, um, but I had a lady even today, uh, she, she just, he moved her from Maryland and moved her a few blocks from his home in in Saint Louis, and she said, when I saw you come out and say what you said, the first three words I knew you were speaking the truth because everything you said about him, he did it with me. And so that's why the women believed me. The women believed me.
The Department of Justice says David Taylor and Michelle Brandon are facing charges of human exploitation, financial crimes, including forced labor and money laundering, and that they did not permit people who were working for their call center victims to leave the house without permission, demanded that his armor bearers transport women from ministry houses, airports, and other locations to Taylor's location. And ensured the women transported to Taylor took Plan B emergency contraceptives. Does any of this surprise you?
Oh, no, not at all. But for me, I was a little bit different. I'm not, uh, because I was the gospel singer that he had me come and sing. I was never around all the stuff you're talking about. The, the, the, um, um, working 50 hours and not feeding them. He kept me from all of that. I flew in, sang his events. He would come to Louisiana, New Orleans. We'd meet up in New Orleans, but I, I was, when I came out with my story, then everybody else said, well, listen, I'm the one that the one that got the EBT cards when, when everybody got them the first of the month, and they all had to give them to me and I would go to the grocery store and, and, you know, food would be gone and we'd have to wait till he said, you know. And so other stories started coming out.
After you spoke out, so these allegations don't surprise you because you've -- heard of these from other -- I've -- heard, yeah, because way back when I, you know, I, I had so many people call me and say, we've been praying for you. But see, people reached out to me, even, even my family and people that they said, Vicky, there's something not right with him. With it and, and I would say, David, everybody says there's something that, you know, not right. And he said, he says, Vicky, he said, but when you're at my level, you're gonna get persecution, and he said, you gotta stand with me. And you know, and there's different things that he would say. Uh, he sent me a YouTube video and he said, I want to check this out. And he said, and there was a video of him at an apartment that he had in Detroit, just said, not fancy at all. And he's standing there and he's showing people his apartment and he said, you know, I only make $49,000 a year, he said, you know, um, and, uh, he said, this is where I stay. And so I called him or he called me. He said, What do you think? I said, David, that's deceptive. I said, you have two Bentleys, a Rolls-Royce. You have all you have, those big big house in in in Saint Louis. He said, then then he said after that, he goes, uh, well, you just need to, you just need to uh go with my flow. You need to, you, you, you, your mind is not right. And he just totally discredited what I said. Why did you even ask me my opinion? So a lot of things like that that that was a red flag and I had many red flags during this 16-month relationship, many, um, but I ignored a lot of them.
One of the red flags, according to what I saw in your book, I guess, was when you first were involved with the church, that first time you came to guests seeing when the worship went till I think you said 3:30 in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. And is that where the first time maybe you, you look to see at the the cult cult likeness of this church -- because they have these -- super long. At that time, I just thought, wow, they really love God. You know, I really, that early on, I didn't really even think of a cult. Um, but that night at 3:30 in the morning, we took a picture together. And he sent me, so about midnight, no, not midnight, about, because that was 3:30, about 5 in the morning, he messaged me. He said, send me that picture. And I said, OK. I sent him, and he came back and he said, OMG, you're beautiful. Now, I was divorced and I, uh, my ex-husband, he would say it was pretty cute, but every woman wants to hear that word beautiful. And so I said, Lord, the next time you send somebody to my life, please let them use the word beautiful. Oh, when I got that text, I said, here he is. And so that was the beginning of the my really downfall with that because I just thought that God, you know, he said, OMG, you're beautiful. And that that didn't. He, like you said, he knew what to say. And it wasn't even -- attracted to him. I mean, I mean, you've seen him, OK, I'm just saying. It's the craziest thing because I would, the longer I would say, I would come to his meetings. I would say, David, these women here are so beau I mean, beautiful women. And he said, yeah, they are. They got nice looking women here, but come to find out, found out that he slept with all of his spiritual daughters. I wasn't the only one.
And it sounds like too, in the in the documents that he's charged with, that's mentioned that he made them take a lot of the women transported to him, take Plan B contraceptives. He ever make you? No, no, no. We didn't, we weren't together because I didn't live there, so I wasn't there. He had, he had a house in Detroit of about maybe 18 women, and I know I'm sure 99% of them was with him.
How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Taylor? Um, I've, I thought I was in love with him. You know what, but I wanna look back at it, he really just used me because I have like 1.2 million on my Facebook page, my platform, um, he would have me, uh, promote his book. If I didn't promote his book every day, it was like the end of the world, like, you know, he wanted me to interview people that saw Jesus. Uh, he, um, so when I look back on it, he used me for my platform. He did not love me. He did not, cuz it was all about what I can do for him, you know, um. He, he kept me busy just, you know, promoting his book, you know, and. As far as you know, I look back at it, I just cannot believe that I got caught up in it. I just can't believe I'm smarter than that, you know, I feel like I'm smarter than that and the guy is. Nothing to look, I'm not trying to be mean, but I mean, I'm just saying. I like good looking, you know, you know, men, you know, that's one thing that's the first thing you see, but that's not what attracted to me at first. It was what he said to me. He's got a way, um, I know it's demonic. I know it's um. Manipulative. I know, I mean, some of these women. His main thing, and I think it's in, it's in the book, getting the women is Facebook. He would message them and say they had a Catherine Couman anointing, if you know who that was. She was a powerful woman of God that would pray for people, they'd be healed, you know, people say, oh, wow, you got a powerful, you, you remind me of Catherine Comin. And then he would say, I was going through Facebook and God told me you're to be my wife. So he has a team of Michelle, Daniel, man, his name just came. Daniel's the one that set up all these things. They would go on Facebook and they would find, uh, affluent women, women with money, women that, you know, uh, not married, married too, because he's broke up many, many marriages. Oh, you won't even believe the stories. There was one video that Michelle posted that said, if you have a nickel, and you're gonna be homeless, if you give up that -- nickel, still give that nickel up to the church -- is a, uh, uh, in, um, anything that you, if you have a savings account, I gave a lot of money. I regret it, but I gave a lot of money. Um, he said, uh, when I exposed him, that they asked him why he said he kicked me out, you know, which that wasn't true. He said, well, she's on drugs, she could be a part of. Which if I've been on drugs, everybody would have known it. Why, you know, you just, I'm in the public, so you just walked away. I just got on social media and I told my story. He got on social media the next night and just then he said, you know, they said, well, well, you bought her a Jaguar. He paid $20,000 for that Jaguar, paid down, and he paid the notes for it, uh, yeah, but he didn't pay it out in full. But and this, you know what he said he told everybody, he said, well, she came to our ministry, she was broke, not true. And she didn't have a car. My car was paid off. But he knew I had a Jaguar in the past that I had wrecked and he knew I, I love Jaguars. So one day he just said, if you can get to Atlanta, I gotta go get you a Jaguar, you know. And so, um, so then they he started making up all these stories. And then Michelle says, one time I picked Vicky up from the airport. And she want a barbecue chicken. And she, so I went and got a barbecue chicken instead of using a napkin, she put the barbecue on top of the the roof of my car. Just and everybody was laughing in the comments because if you know me, that's one thing on my when I go to churches, don't give me barbecue. I hate barbecue. And so everybody was laughing because they're like, she's lying because we know about you, you know. So they just, what they do, what they're trying to do is discredit me. They, you know, they couldn't come. They were just just saying stuff. I'm, I didn't watch it, but other people, um, told me about it because once I. Did the video and I, I broke down and shared my story. I didn't want to hear his voice anymore. I was done. Um, uh, Daystar Television, Joni Lamb, they, her and her husband, deceased husband Marcus Lamb, flew me to a counseling place for, for, uh, for one week. And when I, I, I drove there and when I pulled in, the lady was on the porch. And I, I couldn't see my tomorrow. I could not see tomorrow. I could not see tomorrow. I just because my whole world was what me and him would do together and it was just it was crazy. Even though I was relieved that I was able to share this with the world, but she had her dog there. She hugged me. She said, it's gonna be OK. And so every day for 7 days, she made me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And in between, we'd go by the fireplace and we would just we went back to my childhood. When I was young, I had some things happen to me when I was 5 years old. And she told me, she says, you were told to keep that a secret. At 5, so it was never dealt with. These things were never dealt with, so now you know you're 50. And someone's telling you to keep a secret. You're, you're, you've done that before.
Is that why you spoke out? Yeah, after that, all you have is your voice. And you know what, you read the story about how that came out, how I came up with that title. They, uh, Michelle was a wicked woman. She, she, uh, put me in that room in Israel and she told me, sit down. Her and Marcia, another lady, I think, yeah, another lady, Marcia. And they started, this is in Israel, we were there for some meeting. He always acted like he had, you see his advertisements like he's gonna have 20, 30, 50,000 in his stadiums and you see he's got the best graphics person, but you show up at his meetings and there's 50, 60. He wanted to be famous so bad. I mean, he just wanted, you know. So, so we're in the, um, in this ballroom. First off, Michelle texts me and she says, Apossum wants me and Marcia to meet with you. And Marcia knew I was with David and she did. Only a few people knew. Apostle is apostle, yeah, I'm sorry, apostle David, sorry, David. And so she said, apostle wants me to meet with you. And I said, you, he's my boyfriend, he can text me and call me, what's going on? He said, if you don't meet with us, if you don't accept us, you don't accept him. That was another red flag. I was in Israel, I was like, OK, what this is getting crazy. So I said, no, I'm not meet with y'all. He blasted me. He told me how rebellious I was, full of pride. He just on the phone, he said, you better be with him. So I'm, I'm over in Israel. I don't wanna get stuck. He paid my way there. And so I said, I'll meet with him. So I go to this big ballroom. It was like I was on one side of the table, there were the other side, and they just started, they, they, I was crying, my, I couldn't stop crying. They were saying stuff I never heard of, just making up stuff. You're full of pride and you, when you come to the church, and you're so demanding. You can ask anybody, when I go to their churches, I am not a diva. Give me some room temperature water and let's go. I don't have to have certain color of M&Ms or nothing like that. I'm not that way. They were saying, oh, and I was like, no, shut up. I was like, I was just, shut up, you're full of pride. And they were just screaming at me. I just sat there and cried and I kept thinking, if I'm David's queen, how would a king allow his queen to be treated this way? And so they said, we're done. You can go. So I said, OK, and I walked into the door. And Marcia and Michelle was standing there. Marcia goes, all you have is a voice, Vicky. I said, I know. See, they just, yeah, like I'm there's nothing else to it. Then when I decided to write the book, I was praying about a title. And God brought me back to that moment. And he said, yes, I've anointed your voice to see. But now I've anointed your voice to expose this cult. And so that's the title. All you have is a voice, free from a hidden cult. And so, um, I, it's so interesting that this is happening now and me sharing all this. I, I, on the way over here, I was thinking, Lord, let me say the right things because so much happened in those 16 months. Um, because I haven't thought about it in about 5 years. I'm not. I wrote the book, left alone to God. Whatever, whatever, if, if he's, if he ever gets caught, OK, if he don't, you know what, I felt like I told, I told my story and I'm done with it. I'm done with it. People would message me. I said, first off, don't send me any clips of him. Don't send me anything about him. I'm, I'm, I'm done. I'm, I'm done with him. And then when I got that mug shot, a couple of days ago, all I could do was just cry because I messaged the FBI several times and I said, what's going on? And sometimes they wouldn't answer, sometimes they'd say, it takes time. It takes time. I remember when I had the interview with them, I said, how long is it gonna take? And they said, just Vicky, let me, let me tell you this, when we go in, it's over. We have, we, so it, it may take years. So I feel like I've been vindicated. I feel like, um, you won't believe the people that has messaged me saying, Vicky, I'm sorry. We didn't believe you. We thought you were just a woman scorn. But I'm, I'm, I'm so thankful, um, for this opportunity to, -- to share my story with you because -- more people are speaking out now too.
You're one of the very few over the years that spoke out publicly. Yeah, they won't do it because of the what would happen, you know, what they would happen. You know, one thing I wanted to say when David was pastor our church in Saint Louis, uh, his armor bearer, that was, uh, that's somebody that goes around and helps him, you know, um, there's really true ones that that are compensating and they're, you know, he's got a whole other situation going on, but when he messaged me, he told me he had 60 names of 60 women in Saint Louis that David slept with. He said, let me tell you something. He said, one time we got, I got a call from one of the, the, uh, deacons. He said, get David to come out to the house. He said, Why? He said, Well, you'll find out. David, he told David, David got his wife. They went out of the house. On the way to the house, David told his wife said, act like you knew about this when we got here and that you forgive me. And she said, what? Well, he said, you'll see. When he got out there, all the 8 deacons were out there and they were confronting him. He slept with every one of their wives. Was this Tabitha, the ex, the wife that was the wife, um, uh.
Growing up in the church and being involved in so many churches across the country, do you worry there may be other situations out there -- like what was alleged to happen at the Kingdom of God Global -- Church? Yes, because when I first wrote the book and I was sharing a little bit about it, I had, I had women reach out to me. One lady said, I had our bishop's baby and we sit in the balcony every Sunday and the child is 5 years old now. He's on the platform with the first lady. And, um, so other cults. Yeah, well, I mean, they're gonna say it's a church. They are legitimate churches. My dad was a pastor. He was a 100%, but you know what, there's, there's some of these, uh, the cults, you know, and, uh, but my whole message was no more secrets. See, I kept a secret. People keep a secret. If you can't go, I just want this a side note, if you can't go down the street with a guy you're dating and you can't go to a restaurant or go meet his family, you could only meet him in the hotel. There's something wrong, red flag, red flag. -- No more -- secrets.
What would you say to those who are still members and backing Taylor and Brandon? I called this morning the church and people are still answering. They say that they're still business as usual and they're still accepting donations. So there are still people that are believing in the message that he was spreading and what they are doing. What do you say to those members? I would say it's over. The red flags that you guys have seen, you know, it, it, it, it's true. The thing about it is, any cult leader, um, that's out there, coldly, you think about Jim Jones, uh, some of them, you're always gonna have, um, 200-300 people that's gonna keep believing, you know. David preyed on a lot of people that, uh, mental illness, people that maybe I'm not trying to be mean, but just that had weak, weak people. Um, I remember one time I went to his house with my two boys, we spent a couple of days there in Saint Louis and I looked in the bathroom and some of his books, he had a Jim Jones, some of Jim Jones' books. I don't think nothing of it at the time, but now I look back on it. You know, he, and, and, and I thank God that he didn't offer Kool-Aid because at that time, I probably would have drank the Kool-Aid. I'm just saying, your mind gets so this guy, uh, we just trying to convince you and he did convince me, convinced so many people that he is best friends with Jesus. It's not even biblical, how can you know how you, you know, -- and he -- healed a whole church or a whole hospital. Was that your, that was in your book about how he drove by a hospital and prayed and then all of a sudden steal. So, so this is what this guy does. He thinks every, anything he says, everybody's gonna believe it like he can just say whatever he wants, you know. So he had all these crutches and wheelchairs on the platform and so. He, I'm surprised I stayed around 16 months cause I was questioning things like that, because I would be, as I said, you have all these these wheelchairs and up on the platform. I've not seen anybody walk out of them. He goes, Vicky, it builds faith. It's just, we just do it because it builds faith. Only thing I, only miracle I saw was, and I don't know if it was set up, was he, he had this guy come up there and he got his taste buds back or something. It's just something just so like, try this mint, try that. I was like, OK, and I'm on the front row trying to be. I was like, this is corny, but you know, I don't know. I just. At the at the point that I decided it's over was when a lady, I'm not gonna mention her name, she reached out to me and she says, Vicky, this is what, what she's a big part of it and if you're watching, you know who you are. She says, Vicky, I know you're part of this ministry because I know I see you come and sing, but I need you to help me. I'm in a relationship with David Taylor. Uh, and I played dumb like, oh, really, you know. She says, yeah, she sent me a picture of her of her and him. Of course, I call his phone. He don't answer. I call Michelle. They don't answer. I send the picture. They say, she photoshopped it. She's lying, but you know, you know, you gotta watch when David's in this level of, you know, with Jesus, people's gonna, you know, wanna make up stuff about him and relationship and things. And then, um, somebody else, I, I, he sent me a text. David did, and he had, uh, another lady's name that works there in the, it's a part of my street and it had her name on there. I couldn't find it. So then I knew. So the day I exposed him, you know, the day he started telling everybody that, you know, I lied and I got in the mail. It was for Christmas. He mailed me $900 roof shoes and it said, love you, everything. And he's telling, I couldn't help but post on social media because this guy is telling everybody and tell everybody we were never in a relationship. And then when I, when I posted the pictures of him and I together, if you, you see. He said, she's, she's a, she photoshopped them. I got more people saying, Vicky, you can go into business because honey, those were really, really, really good, you know.
How does it feel to see these charges and to share your voice? I'm so overwhelmed. I told myself, don't cry, talk slow, don't cry. But honestly, kept believing. There's a song that says, keep believing in what you know is true. Keep believing, you know the Lord will see you through when troubles rise in your life and you don't know what to do. Keep believing. And that's all I've done. I kept believing. I kept them out of my mind. One thing I've learned through all of this is to keep my eyes on Jesus. And there's a song I wrote that says, I'm at peace. Even though my heart is breaking, I'm at peace. And that's where I'm at. I'm at peace. And Vicky does expect to testify at some point in this case. She says if Taylor and Brandon are found guilty of the charges, they could face up to 60 years in prison. Now, we did reach out to the Kingdom of God Global Church's headquarters in Michigan. They told us they are still operating as usual and still taking donations. Jennifer Titus, 10 Investigates.