Fall River Child Abuse Defendant Arrested Again After Release

FALL RIVER — A 39-year-old Fall River man, who had his bail drastically reduced despite facing serious charges of assaulting his 20-month-old daughter, has been arrested for allegedly committing another crime while out on release and is now back in custody, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Carl Taylor was arrested in May, 2014, for causing substantial abuse to a toddler. The young victim had extensive injuries and suffered seizures. The injuries were consistent with violently shaking the baby.

The defendant was then indicted in August, 2014 on charges of assault and battery on a child-causing substantial injury, assault and battery of a child with injury and reckless endangerment of a child. He was ordered held on $20,000 cash bail at the time of his Superior Court arraignment.

While the case was proceeding through the system, the defendant was indicted in December of 2016 on a separate charge of witness intimidation after he allegedly attempted to have his wife confess to the crime he was charged with committing. While he was in custody he continued to write his wife and mother, urging her to take the rap for both of them. He stated she had a less serious criminal record, and would receive a more lenient punishment from the court. The defendant then allegedly wrote a letter to his lawyer, purporting to be his wife, and demanding that he go into court and plea the case.

In October of 2017, despite the defendant’s lengthy criminal history, Fall River Superior Court Judge Thomas McGuire agreed to reduce the defendant’s bail from $20,000 to $0. The defendant was immediately released back to the streets to live at a sober house in Boston.

On July 18, 2018, the defendant was arrested in Burlington on a charge of assault and battery on a pregnant woman (his wife). In that incident, Burlington Police were called to a local motel after the victim wanted the defendant removed from their room. The defendant, according to police, was heavily intoxicated to the point where could hardly stand when police arrived at the hotel. Police officers witnessed the defendant slap the pregnant victim across the face. The assault was also caught on video surveillance.

When he was brought into Woburn District Court for arraignment on the new charge, prosecutors from the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office successfully argued to have him held without bail for up 120 days under the state’s dangerousness statute.

After the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office was notified of the new arrest in Burlington, Assistant District Attorney Melissa Hendrie requested a warrant be issued for the defendant to be brought back into Fall River Superior Court for violating the condition of his release. He was eventually brought back into Fall River Superior Court late last week, at which point Judge McGuire ordered his bail to be set at $10,000 cash.

Bristol County District Attorney's office