Bridgeport school board member arrested on kidnapping charges

BRIDGEPORT — City Board of Education member Chris Taylor was arrested after police said he posed as a police officer and attempted to kidnap a Seymour man at gunpoint.

Taylor was charged Friday with attempted seconddegree kidnapping with a firearm, conspiracy to commit seconddegree kidnapping, thirddegree assault, impersonating a police officer and risk of injury to a child.

His wife, Stacy Ramos Taylor, was also arrested. She was charged with impersonating a police officer, conspiracy to commit seconddegree kidnapping, risk of injury to a child and criminal trespass.

Both were later released after each posted $100,000 bond pending arraignment in Superior Court in Derby on Monday.

“No good deed goes unpunished,” Chris Taylor said when reached by telephone on Saturday. He declined further comment.

Seymour police said Chris Taylor, armed with a handgun, and his wife posed as police officers in an effort to get into a Seymour apartment building.

Once inside, police said they went to the apartment of a 21yearold man they are acquainted with and attempted to force the victim to go with them.

Police said the man refused and a fight ensued during which the victim successfully fought the couple off and they fled.

Taylor and his wife agreed late Friday to surrender to police after learning there was a warrant for their arrests, police said.

Chris Taylor has been the subject of a number of controversies this year.

Early in 2019, Taylor’s residency came into question when city zoning officials and the fire marshal ordered that Taylor could not live in the makeshift apartment he claimed as his city residence in a recycling business he owns on Davenport Avenue. In the meantime, court and business records listed Taylor’s residence as a small capestyle house on Bronson Road in Fairfield.

Taylor was granted an appeal in August to continue living in the apartment.

On Feb. 3, Taylor’s 75yearold father, James Taylor, was arrested.

Police said James Taylor broke into the home of his stepson, Donald Garamella, 45, on Catamount Road in Fairfield and fatally shot his exwife Catherine Taylor, 70, with a .22caliber rifle. He was attempting to reload and shoot Garamella when, police said, the younger man tackled Taylor and managed to get the gun away.

Police said James Taylor killed his exwife to end a dispute they were having over the ownership of a garbagehauling business. He was charged with murder and attempted murder.

Chris Taylor later posting his father’s $2 million bond, agreeing to allow his father, who was to be monitored electronically, to live with him in the Bronson Road home.

Chris Taylor was in the process of transferring his father’s property and business interests to himself, according to court records, when, on Aug. 6, the elder Taylor was found hanging in a locked storage container behind the Bronson Road house. An autopsy stated his death was a suicide.

Throughout these incidents Chris Taylor, a Republican, has continued to be an active member of the school board.

In fact, he is the third member of the Board of Education to face criminal charges this year.

Jessica Martinez, recently elected chairwoman of the school board, pleaded guilty earlier this year to attempted seconddegree assault, firstdegree reckless endangerment and violating previous conditions of release for two incidents police said involved her exboyfriend. She is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9 but the charges could be dismissed if she successfully completes a domestic violence program.

Maria Pereira, who won election to the city council, had been arrested following a disturbance at a meeting in Success Village and later following an alleged confrontation with a former school official. She was acquitted in the first case and the second case was dismissed after prosecutors decided not to pursue it.