21-year-old arrested for mooning a family driving on the highway that included a 14-year-old in the car. Now he may have to register as a sex offender

By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
Jul. 24, 2007

SANFORD - A family driving west on Interstate 4 in a silver Mercedes-Benz on Sunday evening made the men in the black Chevrolet Tahoe mad.

The Mercedes had cut them off, the Tahoe's driver later told a Seminole County deputy, so front-seat passenger John Thomas Taylor dropped his pants and mooned the family, including their 14-year-old son, according to a Sheriff's Office report.

Taylor, 21, was arrested and hauled to jail, accused of committing a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a child younger than 16.

He was being held Monday evening without bail in the Seminole County Jail.

He was not eligible for bail because Taylor also was accused of violating probation. Last month, he was placed on 18 months of probation for driving without a valid license in Orange County.

He told deputies Sunday that he hadn't mooned anybody.

Two witnesses told deputies that Taylor had dropped his pants and hung his bottom out of the window, according to the Sheriff's Office report. One was the back-seat passenger in the Tahoe.

Deputies ordered the Tahoe to pull over after two callers phoned the Sheriff's Office to complain that the Tahoe was involved in a road-rage incident.

The family in the Mercedes told deputies the Tahoe had cut them off and was driving recklessly, and that Taylor had thrown something at them and mooned them.

The Tahoe's driver, Kyle Lee Donaldson, 18, of Orlando, told deputies that the Mercedes cut him off. His back-seat passenger, James Patrick Sears, 19, of Orlando, told deputies that Taylor had hung his bottom out of the window but had exposed only a small portion of it.

Chris White, chief of operations at the Seminole County State Attorney's Office, said his office had not yet decided what charge, if any, to file.

If convicted of the charge alleged by the Sheriff's Office, Taylor could face up to 15 years in prison and forever be identified as a sex offender.

White said his office might charge Taylor with exposing himself, a misdemeanor that would carry a maximum sentence of a few months in jail.

Taylor's family would not comment.

Rene Stutzman can be reached at 407-324-7294 or [email protected].