NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Millersville's conspiracy cop now has his very own conspiracy-minded attorney.
Recently, the Millersville City Commission postponed a special meeting to discuss the hiring of assistant police chief Shawn Taylor — and whether his bizarre conspiracy theories make him unfit for the job — at the request of Colorado attorney Todd Callender.
Now, our NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that Callender's own conspiracy theories are sometimes even more far-fetched than Taylor’s twisted view of the world.
In some cases, he suggests violence might be warranted.
According to a review of various podcasts in which Todd Callender has appeared in recent years, Callender argues that conspiracy theories have gotten a bum rap.
"Guess what: cops are conspiracy theorists for a living. So put it out of your head that this is some kind of a bad thing,” the attorney said in one podcast.
Callender imagines a secret United Nations plot to kill billions of people and take their land.
“Do you not yet understand that your government isn’t here to help you? They are here to kill you. So why would we even listen to them?” he declared in a different podcast.
In another podcast, he warned: “We have been marked for extinction. People don’t seem to understand this.”
And in another: “We know that the powers would like seven billion of us to be gone. We also know they want our property.”
The wildfire on Maui, he claims, was actually a secret energy weapon unleashed on the island.
And the toxic train derailment at East Palestine, Ohio, was also part of that plot.
“Wuhan became the first 5G city. They turned on 10,000 5G transmitters — and lo and behold people are getting sick," Callender said in one podcast.
In fact, Wuhan was not the first 5G city, but that doesn’t stop Callender from claiming that COVID was part of a secret plan to kill people.
“If you go into the hospital and you’ve got some disability, they will kill you.”
He falsely claimed doctors were getting paid to kill patients hospitalized with COVID, and he spread fear that the COVID-19 vaccine was actually a murder weapon.
Callender filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense.
“I presented that to them in my case and told them, ‘Here’s the science. These will kill all of your soldiers.' We sued them to stop them.”
When the COVID vaccine did not kill everyone who took the shot, Callender came up with a new conspiracy theory.
“It’s basically vaccine AIDS. And right now they are coming to understand this, people are showing up HIV positive.”
And when that turned out not to be true, he imagined that the film "The Matrix" was proof of the secret plan to turn people into slaves — who are no longer fully human — under the control of sinister forces.
“They fooled these people into being batteries, into being power sources," Callender said. "For those people that got the shots, they are actually now a power source.”
Strangely, in Callender’s mind, the movie itself was part of the plot.
“They show us these movies like "The Matrix" to predictive program us, and now we are in the process of actually witnessing this happening.”
But some of Todd Callender’s ideas are more than just wacky.
He also hints that violence may, in some cases, be justified.
“They are here to kill you. They are going to kill you. What are you going to do about it? You are going to die anyway. Stand up and fight,” the attorney demanded in one podcast.
Callender sees a world controlled by a Zionist cabal and UN secret agents who deserve to be murdered.
“The UN guys, the blue-helmet guys are going to try to integrate into police forces, integrate into our military — and I pray that they get fragged."
Fragging is the deliberate killing of an unpopular member of one's own military or police force.
Then, there are his disproven fears about 5G cell towers.
“We’re all being nuked right now — everyone of us.”
Those towers have been burned by conspiracy theorists around the world.
Here is the clip where Callender, licensed by the @CoSupremeCourt, talks about his “global initiative to empower people” to attack and destroy 5G cell towers. pic.twitter.com/M2aTvGs9v7
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) June 19, 2024
Callender recommends notifying local police that you consider them to be a danger to your health.
“You’ve put them on notice that you are being battered, you are being harmed," he instructs listeners.
"As a result, you have a right to defend yourself. So either the police take that damn tower down and stop the harm – or it gives you notice to them that you are going to do that.”
And it's Callender who will argue that Shawn Taylor's bizarre conspiracy theories are completely normal.
Callender has argued that Taylor is a "whistleblower," not a conspiracy theorist.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates reached out to Callender to request an interview, but he never responded.
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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.
December 9, 2024: Shawn Taylor, the conspiracy-minded cop now at the center of a criminal investigation, has resigned from his position as assistant chief for the Millersville Police Department after less than a year on the job. Read more here.
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