'Counselor's' penalty: 130 years

The sentence for fraud and theft that victimized teens and their families far exceeds what prosecutors sought.

By LARRY DOUGHERTY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 10, 2000

TAMPA -- A phony drug counselor who swindled families out of thousands of dollars and suggested some of his teenage patients become strippers was sentenced Wednesday to 130 years in prison, far exceeding the 15 years sought by prosecutors.

"You are now retired," Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe told 46-year-old Robert Darrell Taylor. "You will never victimize another child or member of the free community."

Prosecutors said afterward that they thought legal limits on stacking sentences consecutively meant the judge's sentence would work out to 50 years. An appeal is expected.

As the sentence was pronounced, Taylor muttered that it amounted to "a death sentence."

Moments before, Taylor had spoken in an agonized tone as he briefly considered withdrawing his guilty pleas to two dozen fraud and theft charges and going to trial. He finally resolved to move ahead with sentencing, telling the judge, "Let's just get it over with."

State sentencing guidelines would have suggested a much lower sentence, but Tharpe said he found there were several aggravating factors to Taylor's crimes: their frequency, the fact his victims were young and vulnerable, that he profited from them, and that he abused a position of trust by posing as a licensed teen drug counselor when he was not.

Wednesday's hearing provided a satisfactory resolution for the teenagers and parents who said Taylor and his South Tampa business, Recovery Concepts Inc., had exploited their vulnerabilities for money, and to gratify his "sociopathic" desire to control them.

Melissa Ann Lagotte, 19, said "Thank God," when she heard the 130-year sentence. It "restores my faith in the justice system," she said.

Her mother, Kathy Ruff, testified Wednesday that after Melissa began seeing Taylor in 1997, the former student ROTC officer dropped out of school, moved out of the house and cut off ties with her family. At the same time, Taylor was cheating the Ruffs and their friends out of thousands of dollars by claiming he was unable to pay medical bills for a fictional granddaughter's heart problem, among other concocted expenses.

"He violated the most important relationship known to mankind -- parent to child -- for his financial pleasure," Ruff told the judge through tears.

Two years ago, a 10-year-old boy who had been under Taylor's care, Gregory Chapman, hanged himself. His parents blame Taylor for psychological pressure he applied and for his advice that Gregory stop taking his prescribed medications.

Gregory's father, Mark Chapman, said Wednesday that the long sentence meant Taylor "will not be allowed out on the street again to mess up other kids." Prosecutors are investigating Taylor in connection with the death, Chapman said.

The hearing left other questions unresolved. In particular, how did Taylor, who had a criminal record and no license to counsel teens about substance abuse problems, get recommended to the Ruffs and other parents by the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office?

The Ruffs and Chapmans are among the plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit being pursued by their attorney, Robert Merkle, against Taylor, the Sheriff's Office and the state Department of Children and Families. Citing the lawsuit, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman declined Wednesday to discuss the referrals. A Children and Families spokesman said last year that Taylor lost his license to counsel adults about substance abuse problems after it was revealed he had lied about having a master's degree.

Wednesday's sentencing also shed no new light on Taylor's claims to the parents that he had friends in high places. Taylor had claimed to Kathy Ruff that he was a fishing buddy of Chief Hillsborough Judge F. Dennis Alvarez. Alvarez has denied any social contact with Taylor and says he has seen him in his court only a few times.

After prosecutors last year suggested charges that might have led to a prison sentence ranging from two to four years, with credit for time served, the parents speculated that Taylor's pull with powerful people was precluding a longer sentence. They pointed to a statement Taylor had made -- that he had knowledge of a Hillsborough judge having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Hillsborough State Attorney Harry Lee Coe III is looking into the allegation.

-- Larry Dougherty can be reached at (813) 226-3337 or dougherty@sptimes.com.

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