New charges say former teacher's assistant arranged to kill boy he allegedly sexually assaulted, his mother

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A former teacher's assistant already accused of taking a student out of class and sexually assaulting him is now facing charges after police said he arranged to have the boy and his mother murdered.

Deonte Taylor was charged Wednesday with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of attempting to tamper with a victim in a felony prosecution.

Police said Taylor was trying to impede the investigation into the three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy with which he was charged in November of 2018.

RELATED: Charges: Teacher’s assistant took boy out of class to sexually assault him in 2015

Charging document said while Taylor was in prison this February for the three sexual assault charges, he met with a man in prison and arranged for that man to kill the alleged victim of the sexual assault and the victim's mother when he got out of prison. The man Taylor made the agreement with became a confidential informant for the police.

Charging documents said Taylor then talked with 66-year-old Michael Johnson — with whom Taylor was living before going to prison — and convinced Johnson to pay the man to do the job. According to charging documents, Johnson did pay the man.

Johnson was also charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of attempting to tamper with a victim in a felony prosecution.

Investigators said Taylor sexually assaulted the boy back in 2015 when the boy was 7-years-old. The incident occurred while Taylor was a teacher’s assistant at Lusher Elementary School.

According to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the victim reported the assault right away and the case was being investigated by a Florissant detective who left the department before the investigation was completed. A spokesperson told 5 On Your Side apparently no one finished the investigation until recently when the victim reported the incident again.

Despite the ongoing investigation, Taylor was able to get his elementary education certificate and a teaching position at Walnut Grove elementary school in the Ferguson-Florissant district. He was placed on administrative leave at the time of the charges.

Both Taylor and Johnson are being held without bond.