MILLERSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Millersville Police Department on Wednesday, executing a search warrant as the criminal investigation into the troubled agency enters a dramatic new phase.
A team of agents was also seen executing a separate search warrant at the White House residence of the department's conspiracy-minded assistant police chief, Shawn Taylor.
"I can confirm that a search warrant execution is underway at the Millersville Police Department as part of an ongoing investigation," TBI spokesperson Susan Niland said in an email. She later confirmed the search at the address where Taylor resides.
An estimated dozen TBI agents descended upon Millersville City Hall sometime Wednesday morning to carry out the search.
Photos provided to NewsChannel 5 Investigates show agents combing through an unmarked police vehicle as Chief Bryan Morris and Detective Todd Dorris stood off to the side. NewsChannel 5 later witnessed agents searching multiple other vehicles.
Agents were also inside the department searching offices there.
About nine miles away in rural Robertson County, NewsChannel 5 Investigates observed eight TBI agents outside Shawn Taylor's home, which prominently features an American flag and a Trump flag on a flagpole just outside.
TBI agents were seen going back and forth from their vehicles to the home, carrying documents and clipboards. NewsChannel 5 also observed a K-9 dog being led around the property, but a TBI source later clarified that it was not a dog belonging to the bureau.
While it is not known what TBI agents are seeking, Taylor has appeared in videos in which he displays an impressive collection of electronic equipment that he has utilized to pursue his sometimes bizarre conspiracy theories.
The search comes amid an ongoing NewsChannel 5 investigation that sparked a TBI investigation of the department under the leadership of Morris and Taylor.
Two local district attorneys have previously confirmed to NewsChannel 5 Investigates that the TBI has been asked to investigate the possible use of sensitive law enforcement data to dig up dirt on potential political enemies.
The TBI is also investigating possible perjury of a Millersville detective, stemming from his testimony in what appears to have been a botched child predator sting.
Online, the reaction from Shawn Taylor's camp was predictable — as the conspiracy theorist at the center of that botched child-predator sting posted a video in which he blamed NewsChannel 5 for the TBI raid.
Craig "Sawman" Sawyer, founder of Veterans for Child Rescue, claimed the search is designed to cover up for child sex trafficking in Tennessee.
"The locals there who have been victims of organized crime exposed to us that, yeah, Phil Williams is a cover-up man, that the TBI does have a percentage of their bureau that's corrupted," said Craig "Sawman" Sawyer, the founder of Veterans for Child Rescue.
Still, a Millersville city commissioner told NewsChannel 5 that he hopes this raid will be the beginning of an effort to restore sanity in the town he calls home.
We asked David Gregory, "The fact that the TBI is here, does that give you hope?"
"It gives me a lot of hope," Gregory answered, "and I'm glad they're here. Maybe we can get answers for the people of this city."
Neither Shawn Taylor nor Chief Bryan Morris has spoken to NewsChannel 5 since this investigation began, but the chief did speak to a local news source, telling the Smokey Barn News that this is, in his words, all political.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the search occurred Tuesday. It was, in fact, Wednesday.
Part One: Meet Millersville's conspiracy cop. 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.
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.
Part Two: The controversy over Millersville's conspiracy cop, first uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, 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 as the city's assistant police chief.
At the center of the controversy: Do Millersville residents want a high-ranking police official — with a gun, badge and the power to arrest people — who believes in bizarre conspiracy theories with no real evidence to back them up?
You can continue reading Part Two at this link.
Part Three: 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 because his client Shawn Taylor could sue his other client, the city.
The attorney's advice, delivered in an email sent Thursday, responded to a request from two city commissioners for a special meeting to review Taylor's hiring following NewsChannel 5's investigation of the self-described "gypsy cop."
"Interrogating Assistant Chief Taylor about his political viewpoints or political speech will violate his First Amendment rights and thereby expose the City to significant legal liability...," wrote Bryant Kroll.
You can read more of this installment at this link.
Part Four: Anna Caudill agreed to watch the video of Shawn Taylor knowing there might be only so much she could handle.
"So we'll start this," I reassured her, "and then, when you've had enough, you just stop it."
In the podcast video uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, Taylor shared bogus conspiracy theories about Nashville's Covenant School shooting. Now the assistant police chief in Millersville, Taylor was between police jobs at the time he recorded the podcast with two other conspiracy theorists.
For Anna, the mass shooting was personal.
Among the three children and three adults killed that day was her friend, Katherine Koonce, the school's beloved headmaster who was gunned down as she tried to stop the shooter.
You can read more of Anna's story by tapping on this link.
Part Five: 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, who has become known as Millersville’s conspiracy cop, made those comments as he turned to a group of far-right podcasters to defend himself against questions raised by NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
Tap this link to read from those Taylor's accused.
Part Six: Millersville officials are standing with their assistant police chief and his bizarre conspiracy theories regarding Nashville's Covenant School shooting.
City Commissioner David Gregory urged his fellow commissioners to demand that Shawn Taylor apologize for a 2023 podcast in which he had questioned the official story. Taylor falsely claimed that video released by police was actually staged.
But the three-member majority ignored Gregory's plea, just as they have refused a recent request by Gregory and Commissioner Cristina Templet for a special meeting of the city commission to discuss Taylor's hiring.
Read how this meeting played out at this link.
Part Seven: 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 personal attorney for Police Chief Bryan Morris and Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor, representing them in a lawsuit against the City of Ridgetop.
To understand the role he plays, you can read that here.
Part Eight: In Shawn Taylor's world — in the immortal words of Taylor Swift — "I'm the problem, it's me."
Not his bizarre conspiracy theories — with no evidence — imagining some of the most prominent people in the country are engaged in child sex trafficking.
I explain how we got here in this piece, which you can click on here.
Part Nine: 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.
Those recordings — obtained from what was supposed to be a sting operation to nab sexual predators who prey on innocent children — show that, in their zeal to make some big cases, Millersville's conspiracy-minded cops may have crossed the line of what's legal.
Read more on this investigation by tapping here.
Part Ten: 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.
These latest questions follow the revelation of secret recordings obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates from that child-predator sting back in May that, our investigation discovered, do not match the detective's sworn testimony in the case.
You can read more about that by tapping here.
Part Eleven: 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.
In a telephone interview, Nash said he was also personally reviewing the one case resulting from that sting in May.
You can read more about that by tapping here.
Part Twelve: 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.
Sources told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that TBI agents began conducting interviews last week with potential victims, and District Attorney General Ray Whitley of Gallatin confirmed Monday that he authorized the investigation into the possible misuse of data.
Read more about that by tapping here.
Part Thirteen: 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.
Those new questions include the stories that Taylor tells about the jobs he has held in the past, stories about retaliation he claims to have faced and stories that raise more questions about whether Taylor should have a gun and a badge.
You can catch up on the investigation by tapping here.