Teen counselor accused of harboring
former student
January 6, 2007
By Adam Ghassemi
 CENTURY,
FLORIDA - An organization that claims to help troubled teens in
Northwest Florida loses a counselor who, investigators say, went too
far.
Outward Bound Discovery claims it
teaches troubled young adults how to reach their full potential, but
an assistant instructor at its Century, Florida location is now in
custody, accused of doing much more.
Authorities say last month they
learned 31-year old Chiara R. Taylor was allowing a runaway 17-year
old former student to stay at her home. Due to the warrant delays
and the holiday season Taylor wasn't taken into custody until
Friday.
"How the relationship started I
don't know. What the relationship consisted of we don't know. They
only thing we do know is that we received information that the child
was going to be there," said Sgt. Mike Ward with the Escambia Co.
Sheriff's Office.
After learning the boy may be
living with her, authorities say when questioned Taylor repeatedly
refused the search of her home, which is in a FEMA trailer park.
After being denied access and returning to the home with a
supervisor, deputies say they noticed a missing window screen that
was there earlier. "Of course we thought the juvenile had jumped out
the window and ran off," said Ward.
A K9 unit found the boy hiding out
in a nearby wooded area. Authorities say he's now at home in
Marianna, Florida with his mother, who first called Outward Bound to
report what was going on. The company says that's when they called
authorities.
"Once we went there just to make
contact just so we could tell the mother, 'Hey, went by and checked
it out turned out that the child was actually there'," Ward added.
While the details of their
relationship are still unknown, Taylor faces a long list of charges
for allegedly lying about exactly where the boy was staying.
Outward Bound Discovery Officials
tell Fox10 when they learned of Taylor's involvement with the former
student, they terminated her immediately.
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