Cash bond increased for former U.S. Senate candidate
Bail has increased for a man who had announced a run for U.S. Senate, but is now incarcerated in connection with stalking, harassment and a dozen counts of noncompliance of bond.
William Taylor, 41, with an address near Gumboro, had announced his candidacy in August 2023 as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat held by a retiring Sen. Tom Carper. The owner of TMT Chassis, a metal fabrication company, said he was concerned over outsourcing of goods, which had affected his ability to operate his business. Taylor was also one of two plaintiffs who filed suit against the state and Attorney General Kathleen Jennings over an assault weapons ban that had no provisions allowing for classic or antique firearms. At the time, Taylor had a federal license as a curios and relics collector, which allowed him to collect classic firearms.
By Jan. 17, he faced a harassment charge for contacting a woman after she told him to stop. According to the police report filed by the Fenwick Island Police Department, the woman had helped Taylor with his campaign, and he had invited her to go shooting with him. He had given her a gun, referred to as a ghost gun because it has no serial number, and contacted her numerous times to have the gun returned, the report states. After the woman filed a report, police told Taylor to have no contact with the woman, and he could pick up his gun at the police station.
Nine days later, however, a report states, Taylor continued to text message the woman, who then asked Jan. 29 for a judge to issue a no-contact order.
Taylor allegedly sent another text Jan. 31 stating he “made a promise to the Lord to not do anything bad, but if anything happens to [my] father or any of [my] family, that deal is off,” the report states.
Taylor was charged with intimidation/reckless endangering/terroristic threatening/harassment, adding to similar charges that were starting to pile up, and he was arrested the same day. He was issued a no-contact order by a judge, ordered to relinquish his firearms, and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution in default of $9,000 secured bond.
He made bail, but on June 28 was taken back into custody, and a search warrant was executed at his home.
“Immediately upon entering into the residence … [on] the kitchen table were four magazines with what appeared to be loaded with 5.56 mm ammunition,” the report states.
Four fully loaded firearms were spread throughout the bedroom in plain view, and a fully loaded 9 mm handgun was under the pillow. Another 21 weapons and ammunition that Taylor did not turn in were found in a smaller bedroom, the report states.
Police also found a couple of cellphones and laptop computers, all seized and taken into temporary evidence.
Taylor was charged with two counts of harassing communication/phone/wire/mail and two counts of noncompliance with conditions of bond. He was also indicted by a grand jury on similar harassment and stalking counts – first on March 12 and another Aug. 27.
On Oct. 24, after trying to contact the woman through a third party and violating conditions of his bail, police said, officers with the Delaware Office of Probation and Parole took Taylor into custody. He was taken to Delaware State Police Troop 4 and charged with 12 counts of noncompliance with bond, three counts of harassment, and stalking. He was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution in default of $73,000 cash bail.
His bail is now $148,000 cash after a Nov. 4 bond review. The case is now moving through Sussex County Superior Court with a final case review scheduled for Jan. 8, 2025.
