Former Durham cop sentenced in federal court after sexually assaulting civilian
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- Former Durham police officer Rayshawn Taylor sexually assaulted a civilian on duty.
- He’d been called to the man’s home in August 2024 for a welfare check.
- Taylor was sentenced federally Thursday after pleading guilty.
A former Durham police officer was sentenced in federal court Thursday after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a man he’d been called to check on.
Rayshawn Deon Taylor, 36, of Mebane, was first arrested Sept. 30, 2024, by Durham police, a little over a month after resigning from the Durham Police Department, The News & Observer previously reported. Taylor faced an internal investigation, then criminal charges, after a civilian reported he’d sexually assaulted him during an on-duty interaction Aug. 21, 2024, Chief Patrice Andrews said at the time.
Following requests from local officials, the FBI also got involved, and Taylor was charged federally with sexual assault under the color of law on Aug. 27, 2025, court records show.
Color of law offenses are federal civil rights violations that occur when a government official, under the guise of their authority, intentionally deprives someone of their rights, according to the FBI. They are typically prosecuted as misdemeanors unless there is bodily injury, death, kidnapping or aggravated sexual assault or if a dangerous weapon is used.
Taylor, who joined the Durham Police Department in 2014, was working the night shift when he was called to the victim’s home for a welfare check about 4:30 a.m. Aug. 21, 2024, according to court documents. Taylor found the victim sitting in his car outside the home. A police corporal arrived about 10 minutes after Taylor, but told investigators he left shortly after because he was tired.
After his colleague left, Taylor sexually assaulted the victim for several minutes while frisking him, investigators wrote.
“Victim-1 stated that the officer repeatedly asked him via a translation app on the officer’s phone ... if Victim-1 ‘liked it,’” a criminal complaint states. “Victim-1 said he did not like it, but he did not know what to do ... Victim-1 stated he could hear the officer’s excited breathing.”
After the assault, Taylor typed into the translation app, “If you say anything, I’m going to come and arrest you,” according to the complaint. He then left, and the victim told his wife what had occurred, asking her not to tell anyone because he was doubtful anything would come of it and didn’t want to be arrested.
The victim’s wife called 911 just after 5 a.m.
“In the background of the 911 call, a man could be heard saying, ‘They are going to arrest me,’” the criminal complaint states.
The corporal who had briefly responded to the scene saw the call on the dispatch log and advised Taylor of it, according to the complaint.
“Taylor stated he would handle the call” and called the victim’s wife, who asked to see an officer in person, the complaint says. Taylor arrived at the residence at 5:21 a.m.
“As Taylor exited his marked patrol vehicle in full DPD uniform, he first stated, ‘So, what is he saying?’” prosecutors wrote in the complaint. “Taylor denied the accusations; specifically, he asked Victim-1 if he ever ‘lied like this’ to get out of trouble.”
When the victim and his wife asked to speak to a different officer, Taylor told them a supervisor wouldn’t be available until the next night shift because the current shift was about to end. But the victim’s wife insisted, and Taylor ultimately called the corporal on his personal iPhone, asking him to come to the scene, the complaint states.
When the corporal arrived, he took statements from the victim and his wife, then spoke to Taylor separately to ask if there was body-worn camera footage from the incident, according to the complaint. Taylor claimed he didn’t turn his camera on — a violation of Durham Police Department policy — because he didn’t plan to arrest the victim. He told the corporal he’d frisked the victim but denied assaulting him.
The corporal also asked Taylor to show him the translation app on his phone; Taylor initially handed over his personal phone, “then abruptly pulled it back” and offered his department-issued iPhone, the complaint says. Investigators later discovered that Taylor typically used his personal phone to translate during interactions requiring it.
Taylor was placed on administrative leave that same day while the department investigated, according to police.
The next day, when officers with the department’s Internal Affairs unit asked to speak with Taylor, he resigned “on the spot, effective immediately, stating, ‘Y’all wouldn’t believe me anyway,’” according to the complaint.
Durham Police Department investigators were able to extract footage from Taylor’s patrol car’s camera, even though he hadn’t activated it, according to the complaint. The footage matched the victim’s account of events.
On Sept. 30, 2024 — the day of Taylor’s arrest — a detective with the department called Taylor and asked if he could come in for an interview, the complaint says. With SWAT on standby, the detective’s body-worn camera captured their conversation as Taylor claimed he couldn’t because he was working in Greensboro and reiterated the same account he’d given the previous month. Officers watching Taylor’s home knew he was there, according to the complaint.
Taylor was then arrested on charges of first-degree kidnapping, sexual servitude with an adult victim and sexual battery and booked into the Durham County jail. He posted $50,000 secured bond the same day, court records show.
FBI investigators who searched Taylor’s phone found he’d deleted the translation app and its cache the night of the assault, according to court documents.
Taylor was sentenced Thursday to three years and one month in prison and two years of supervised release as part of a plea arrangement. He pleaded guilty Sept. 4 and is to turn himself in Feb. 27 to begin his sentence, court documents show. In the meantime, he must continue mental health treatment through Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Probation Office and cannot possess a firearm, destructive device or any other weapon.
The Durham County charges against Taylor remained pending in court records as of Friday afternoon. It’s not clear if the charges will be dismissed in light of his federal sentence.
“We are here as guardians of our community, and this badge is power that the community has bestowed upon us to do all things good and righteous and just,” Andrews said in the September 2024 press conference. “And if we can’t do that, then yes, we need to be held accountable.”
