A former Gwinnett County Cub Scout leader, who has been held in jail without bond since July 2008 on charges of molesting or sexually exploiting 16 children, finally has a trial date set, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Harry Brett Taylor is to go on trial Aug. 6 before Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge William M. Ray II, Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said.
Taylor is being held in the Gwinnett Detention Center, charged with 16 counts of aggravated child molestation, 7 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, and 1 count each of aggravated sexual battery and sexual battery, jail records show.
Ray is the sixth judge assigned to Taylor's case. In April, Superior Court Judge Debra Turner became the fifth judge to recuse herself from the case. At the time, she said it was because her campaign chairman was the defendant’s former divorce lawyer.
Taylor was arrested after an 8-year-old boy said he was molested during a sleepover at Taylor's house in Lawrenceville.
After police began investigating, 15 others came forward alleging that Taylor either had inappropriate sexual contact with them, made them undress in front of him, or photographed them naked.
The sleepover was not affiliated with the Cub Scouts, but the boy knew Taylor because Taylor was his Cub Scout den leader, police said.
Prosecutors said about 1,000 photographs involving alleged victims were found when police seized and searched cameras, computers and photographic equipment from Taylor's home.
Taylor has pleaded not guilty.
The defendant was once on the steering committee for Leadership Gwinnett, a Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce leadership development program, and is a former library board member.
-- Staff writer Andria Simmons contributed to this article.
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