A Mebane resident and former Durham police officer will spend three years in federal prison for sexually assaulting a man during a welfare check in August 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Rayshawn Deon Taylor, 36, black, male, of Mebane, voluntarily pleaded guilty to one count of sexually assaulting a victim while carrying out his duties as a Durham police officer.
Federal charges were filed against Taylor on August 27, 2025. The defendant waived his constitutional right to a trial by voluntarily pleading guilty, based on documents that have been filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Federal law enforcement officials formally refer to the charge as “deprivation of rights under the color of law involving sexual misconduct,” according to Thursday’s announcement by U.S. assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s civil rights division, K. Harmett Dhillon, U.S. attorney Dan Bishop, and special agent in charge of the FBI Charlotte Field Office James C. Barnacle, Jr.
Taylor had been on duty as a corporal with the Durham police department in August 2024 when he sexually assaulted the man during a welfare check, according to the DOJ’s release.
“The Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC) received a 911 call from Witness-1, who stated her husband, Victim-1, had told her that a police officer had just been in front of their residence and had [fondled] him,” the factual basis for the guilty plea states. “Victim-1 told Witness-1 that the officer threatened that Victim-1 would get arrested if he said anything. In the background of the 911 call, a man could be heard saying, ‘They are going to arrest me.’”
Neither the federal court files nor the DOJ’s release specify the location in Durham where the sexual assault occurred. Nor do they give the identity of the victim in the case.
Investigators learned that Taylor had communicated with the victim, as well as other Spanish speakers he’d encountered earlier during his shift that night, by using a Spanish translation app on his personal iPhone.
An analysis by a forensic examiner with the Federal Bureau of Investigation later revealed that Taylor had deleted the Spanish translation app and temporary data files associated with it from his cell phone.
Taylor also hadn’t activated his body-worn camera during the encounter, but portions of the assault were captured by the camera mounted on the dashboard inside Taylor’s patrol car, according to his federal court file.
A subsequent review of the dashcam footage by the Durham police department revealed that Taylor had been at the victim’s residence for approximately 24 minutes, and the victim had been sexually assaulted inside his vehicle. “Taylor’s positioning throughout this interaction was consistent with the sexual assault Victim-1 described,” the factual basis for his guilty plea states.
During a subsequent interview with the Durham police department’s Special Victims Unit, the victim stated that Taylor had arrived at his residence at 4:30 a.m. on August 21, 2024 and instructed the man to get out of his vehicle, where he had fallen asleep.
“[Taylor] then undid Victim-1’s pants and belt and put his (the officer’s) hand inside Victim-1’s pants,” the factual background states. “The officer started [fondling] him. The officer told him to sit, which he did. The officer unbuckled Victim-1’s pants, undid his button and zipper, and began [fondling] Victim-1 harder.”
“Victim-1 stated [that Taylor] repeatedly asked him via a translation app on the officer’s phone [if he] liked it,” the factual background states. “Victim-1 said he did not like it, but he did not know what to do. He was nervous and did not want the officer to arrest him. Victim-1 stated he could hear the officer’s excited breathing.”
Taylor resigned “on the spot” the following day, on August 22, 2024, when he was approached by the Durham police department’s Internal Affairs unit, telling investigators, “Y’all wouldn’t believe me anyway,” the factual background states.
Mebane police corporal assisted with Taylor’s arrest
A corporal with the Mebane police department (who appears to be no longer employed with the department) assisted state and federal law enforcement in executing an arrest warrant for Taylor on September 30, 2024.
The Mebane police corporal (identified in the factual background only as Cpl. Harton) eventually coaxed Taylor’s account of the encounter prior to the arrest, according to the factual background. Taylor told Harton that he hadn’t turned on his body-worn camera because he hadn’t planned to arrest the man when he arrived at the victim’s residence on August 21, 2024.
Taylor instead said he’d tried to get the victim to go with him to Durham Regional Hospital, which the victim rejected. When the man exited his vehicle, Taylor searched his pockets, patted around his waist, and removed the man’s cell phone and keys before handing them back – all of which lasted less than a minute, based on the account that Taylor outlined to the Mebane police corporal prior to his arrest.
Taylor had been employed with the Durham police department since 2014, Durham police chief Patrice Andrews said in interviews following Taylor’s arrest in September 2024.
Taylor is scheduled to turn himself in on February 27 to begin his prison sentence. The terms of his plea agreement also require him to immediately begin making financial restitution to his victim and to complete two years of supervised probation upon his release from prison, his federal court files show.
Taylor is also facing additional, separate state charges of felony first-degree kidnapping, felony sexual servitude of an adult victim, and misdemeanor sexual battery in connection with the same case. Those charges remain pending in Durham County.
Assistant U.S. attorney Ashley Waid was the lead prosecutor for Taylor’s federal case. The defendant was represented by a federal public defender, Ira Knight of Greensboro, the court files show.
While the federal court files contain no home address for Taylor, other official public records list his address as 306 Sutton Place, which is located in the Collington Farms subdivision in Mebane.
