NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — He believes the completely bogus QAnon conspiracy theory that falsely claimed Democrats had kept child sex slaves locked up in the basement of a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C.
He imagines sinister plots involving some of the country's most prominent political figures, including his theory — with no evidence whatsoever — that former Vice President Al Gore was involved in the disappearance and murder of 20-year-old Holly Bobo in 2011.
"Yeah, Al Gore, you’re a piece of sh*t — just so you know," Shawn Taylor proclaims in a December 2023 podcast.
Meet Millersville's conspiracy cop.
When controversial candidate Gabrielle Hanson was running for mayor of Franklin last fall, she gave voice to political conspiracy theories so bizarre that residents were often left wondering where she would get such ideas.
Now, in a recent podcast interview, Hanson has pointed to Taylor as a source for some of her claims.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered hours and hours of videos where Shawn Taylor has appeared on podcasts associated with the widely discredited QAnon conspiracy theories.
There, Taylor shares his own bizarre speculations about corruption that he claims to have uncovered.
"I found out that it wasn’t just district attorneys, I found out it wasn’t just judges. I found out that it went a whole lot higher than that," he insists in one podcast interview.
Taylor claims to see connections no one else can see.
In one video, he shows a sketch of connections he imagines between former President Barack Obama and several Tennessee political figures in what he claims is some sort of illegal plot.
"These people right here, on the top of this list, should absolutely 100% be in Gitmo, facing charges," Taylor declares.
Shawn Taylor - who carries a gun/badge and has power to arrest people - finds it suspicious when he doesn’t find anything suspicious. 4/ pic.twitter.com/k6YGLoRQYE
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) May 21, 2024
And when he strikes out, like in one video looking at property supposedly linked to Bill Gates, the lack of anything suspicious is a reason, in his mind, to be suspicious.
"Nothing that really looks suspicious," Taylor says as he examines images from Google Earth, "and when I don’t have anything that looks suspicious, that makes me think something's up."
Taylor recently landed in Millersville as assistant police chief, promising to root out the corruption he sees there.
A self-described "gypsy cop," court records show the conspiracy theorist has bounced from town to town, sometimes keeping a job for just a few months at a time.
"Every time I will go to an agency and start digging, they will always, as soon as I start showing them everything, they will shut me down," Taylor says in one podcast interview.
Which is why NewsChannel 5 went to Millersville to ask the assistant chief about those claims.
"We'd like to talk to you about some of your conspiracy theories," we told Taylor when we caught up with him outside of City Hall.
"All right, well, have a good day," he responded.
Taylor claims he's uncovered a vast criminal conspiracy that involves former President George Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, former vice president Al Gore, billionaires George Soros, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett — along with U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, former governors Ray Blanton, Ned McWherter and Bill Haslam, potentially involving current Gov. Bill Lee.
There's also state Sen. Jack Johnson, his wife Judge Deanna Johnson, Tennessee banker Jim Ayers, former TBI director Larry Wallace, current state Safety Commissioner Jeff Long and at least three Tennessee district attorneys.
On top of that, there's the FBI, the CIA, the TBI and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates told Taylor, "Some of your theories are so bizarre. Are you worried about them affecting your credibility?"
"I have no worries about that," he answered.
Taylor imagines that the elder President Bush enlisted the Clintons into his transnational criminal network.
"Old man Bush is the king, he’s the ringleader, he’s the one that got all of this stuff happening."
And the Clintons brought in Tennessee's Al Gore.
"That was the reason he became vice president," Taylor said in one podcast.
The interviewer followed up, "Because he was trafficking drugs and kids back then? No kidding?"
"Because he was involved in it. His family was involved in it. They were steeped in it for generations."
Tennessee's TennCare health insurance plan, according to Taylor, was part of the plot.
Thanks to those who have pointed out that Shawn Taylor’s interviewer thinks millions of Americans are already living on Mars! Remember, Taylor carries a gun/badge and has power to arrest people. 3/ pic.twitter.com/PUDT6XOMPj
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) May 21, 2024
"It was adopted by the Gores here and implemented — and one of the reasons I believe that they implemented it was to help launder the funds and the proceeds from the smuggling."
Even Republicans like U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, Taylor claims, are also involved in the various plots.
"Marsha, I hope you’re listening because I know all of your illegal campaign contributions ran through Fifth Third Bank. We’re looking into that too – just so she knows," he told another podcaster.
That podcaster remarked, "Stand by, Marsha."
"Yeah," Taylor continued, "we’re coming for you, too."
Taylor is quick to see corruption everywhere he goes — in one case playing a 2018 video of his takedown of some gang members.
"I had another city that was within a quarter mile that refused to back me up because, I’ll just call it, the Greenbrier police chief there is corrupt as sh*t."
Without evidence, he accuses Cookeville DA Bryant Dunaway of covering up murders in his district, claiming the DA is lying when he says certain murders are unsolved.
"Bullsh*t. Let me tell you something, District Attorney Bryant Dunaway of Cookeville, you are a lying piece of sh*t."
And he imagines that his own DA, Ray Whitley of Gallatin, has done favors for drug dealers who, he thinks, help keep him in office.
Whitley, he claims, "several years ago basically framed two gentlemen for a homicide when he knew that they didn’t do it, but they owned the drug dealers money that he gets money from to be elected."
Again, there is absolutely no evidence to support any of Taylor's bizarre claims which, until now, might have been a subject of mild curiosity.
"If I was still in law enforcement, and I wasn’t retired, I would be seeking search warrants," he said in one podcast. "I would be seeking arrest warrants and/or indictments and we would be kicking people’s asses."
Finally, Shawn Taylor boasts that if he had police powers, he would be “kicking these people’s asses.” He now has a gun/badge and power to arrest people. 7/7 pic.twitter.com/uYLbVN8aEm
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) May 21, 2024
That was before Taylor got his new job at Millersville.
Now, with police powers, armed with a gun and badge, Taylor has the power to do just that.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates had one more question for Taylor.
"You said in one podcast that if you don't see anything suspicious, you find that to be suspicious. Do you not find that to be crazy talk?"
Shawn: "No, I don't, Mr. (redacted)."
That is where this story took another strange turn.
Taylor referred to this reporter by my late wife's last name — she's been dead for years — which suggests that he's now been digging into me and my background.
What we don't know is: has he been doing that using government computers or government resources?
Our investigation continues.
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
Here is how this investigation has unfolded:
May 20, 2024: Meet Millersville's conspiracy cop. He imagines sinister plots involving some of the country's most prominent political figures. Taylor recently landed in Millersville as assistant police chief, promising to root out the corruption he sees there. You can continue reading at this hyperlink.
May 22, 2024: The controversy over Millersville's conspiracy cop has now become the latest scandal rocking the tiny town just north of Nashville. Now, two city commissioners want a special meeting to figure out how Shawn Taylor landed his job.
You can continue reading Part Two at this link.
May 24, 2024: An attorney for Millersville conspiracy cop Shawn Taylor has told Millersville's city commission, whom he also represents, that they should not question the assistant police chief's bizarre theories or psychological fitness.
You can read more of this installment at this link.
May 28, 2024: New podcast video, uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, reveals how Shawn Taylor spread false and dangerous conspiracy theories about last year's Covenant School shooting that left three students and three staff members dead. You can click here to review that story.
May 28, 2024: Anna Caudill agreed to watch the video of Shawn Taylor knowing there might be only so much she could handle. Among the three children and three adults killed that day was her friend, Katherine Koonce. You can read more of Anna's story by tapping on this link.
June 3, 2024: First, he went after Millersville’s former mayor. Now, the town’s assistant police chief says his two critics on the city commission could be next. Shawn Taylor made those comments as he turned to a group of far-right podcasters to defend himself. Tap this link to read from those Taylor's accused.
June 4, 2024: Millersville officials are standing with their assistant police chief and his bizarre conspiracy theories regarding Nashville's Covenant School shooting. Read how this meeting played out at this link.
June 5, 2024: Bryant Kroll wears a lot of hats. He's the attorney representing the embattled City of Millersville. He also represents Mayor Tommy Long, who faces accusations of misconduct in an ouster suit. Plus, he's the attorney for Bryan Morris and Shawn Taylor. To understand the role he plays, you can read that here.
June 6, 2024: In Shawn Taylor's world — in the immortal words of Taylor Swift — "I'm the problem, it's me." I explain how we got here in this piece, which you can click on here.
June 18, 2024: Millersville's conspiracy cop now has his very own conspiracy-minded attorney. Now, our NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that Todd Callender's own theories are sometimes even more far-fetched than Taylor’s twisted view of the world. Click here to read more about Shawn Taylor’s attorney.
July 15, 2024: What happens when you give people with bizarre conspiracy theories a gun and a badge? Secret recordings from inside the troubled Millersville Police Department provide a sobering answer to that question.
Read more on this investigation by tapping here.
July 22, 2024: In an explosive new development that could bring new trouble for the already-troubled Millersville Police Department, a key player in a child-predator sting says the lead detective on that operation lied under oath.
You can read more about that by clicking here.
July 23, 2024: District Attorney General Robert Nash has asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the Millersville Police Department's handling of a child predator sting, including possible perjury by the lead detective. You can read more about that by tapping here.
July 29, 2024: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has expanded its probe of the embattled Millersville Police Department, now looking into allegations that officials may have used sensitive law enforcement data to investigate their political enemies. Read more about that by clicking here.
August 5, 2024: With the Millersville Police Department now the focus of a TBI investigation, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered new questions about the stories that conspiracy cop Shawn Taylor tells about himself.
You can catch up on the investigation by tapping here.
August 12, 2024: In a perplexing pair of podcast interviews, the Millersville chief of police says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has begun limiting his department's access to certain sensitive law enforcement data. Read more about this latest development here.
August 26, 2024: He has helped to fuel some of the wild conspiracy theories inside the troubled Millersville Police Department. He is a self-proclaimed pedophile hunter who believes America is controlled by what he calls "a satanic cult masquerading as Jews." Read more about Craig Sawyer by clicking here.
August 27, 2024: Craig Sawyer’s response to my investigation illustrates how conspiracy theorists frequently use wild accusations and blustery language to avoid giving real answers about their bizarre beliefs. Tap here to watch as we dissect his 90-minute diatribe.
September 4, 2024: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Millersville Police Department and Shawn Taylor’s home, executing a pair of search warrants as the criminal investigation into the troubled agency enters a dramatic new phase. Read more about this new twist in the Millersville investigation.
September 10, 2024: “No, a TBI agent didn't pee in Shawn Taylor's tub, agency says in response to Taylor's latest claim.” The headline says it all. Click here.
September 19, 2024: QAnon-aligned voices of the far right are threatening retaliation against a judge, a district attorney and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents for their roles in the recent Millersville raids. Details posted here.
October 7, 2024: A well-known Arizona election denier says his group — working through Millersville's conspiracy-minded assistant police chief — gained access to a highly confidential federal database that tracks Americans’ banking transactions and other financial data. Read the exclusive story here.
October 22, 2024: Two key GOP lawmakers – the chairman and a member of the state House committee that oversees the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department. You can read the letter here.
October 24, 2024: A letter from two GOP lawmakers, which appeared to threaten the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for its probe of the Millersville Police Department, was the "wrong way to go," House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. But there is more to the speaker's reaction.
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