Tavares man accused of molesting girl while babysitter slept

TAVARES, Fla. — A Tavares man in trouble for choking his daughter is facing more charges of harming a child, said authorities.

Tony Taylor is accused of molesting a girl his girlfriend was babysitting.

Taylor could have been getting help for mental problems in an in-patient facility instead of being out on the streets while out on bond.
Taylor will have to answer to a judge at the Lake County Courthouse. This time, the judge could order him to be committed.

Melinda Argenziano initially described Taylor as "really, really shy."

She had been dating Taylor for the last three weeks, and said she thought nothing of the fact that he was at her house when she babysat her neighbors' 11-year-old and 9-year-old.

"I put in a movie for them, "The Little Match Girl," and I fell asleep midway between the movie," Argenziano said.

That's when the 11-year-old girl said Taylor got closer.

Argenziano said she didn't know what had happened until the next day.

"She just started crying, and she said, 'He touched me, and he did this, and you were sleeping,'" Argenziano said.

Argenziano said she immediately called deputies and told the girl's parents.

WFTV's Renee Stoll stopped by Taylor's home, but he said none of it is true.

"It's just a bunch of accusations. False accusations," Taylor said.

Taylor has been in trouble with a minor before. Court documents show he was arrested in 2011 on charges of choking his own young daughter.

WFTV showed Argenziano the report.

"'My daddy only choked me a little', my god," Argenziano said.

Just two months ago, the judge at the Lake County Courthouse decided Taylor wasn't competent to stand trial for the case.

Instead of ordering Taylor to go to a live-in facility to regain competence, the judge let him do an out-patient program, only for Taylor to be in trouble again.

"I think he should be in a permanent facility where he cannot reach children," Argenziano said.

When Stoll asked Taylor about the judge allowing him to do an out-patient program, he said he had a phone call and couldn't talk to Channel 9 anymore.

WFTV