Two self-proclaimed religious leaders have been accused of running forced labor centers in St. Louis County and three other states. The two allegedly used some of the illegally gained money to purchase a mansion in the Wildwood area that was once owned by the rapper Nelly, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
David Taylor, 53, and Michelle Brannon, 56, were arrested on Aug. 27 in North Carolina and Florida after being charged in the Eastern District of Michigan for their alleged roles in a forced labor and money laundering conspiracy that victimized individuals in Michigan, Florida, Texas, and Missouri, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Both of them have been charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor and money laundering conspiracy, according to court documents.
“Combating human trafficking is a top priority for the Department of Justice,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “We are committed to relentlessly pursuing and ending this scourge and obtaining justice for the victims.”
Taylor led the Kingdom of God Global Church, formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries International, and Brannon was the church’s executive director. The two allegedly forced people to raise millions of dollars in donations, according to court records.
No attorneys were listed for either Taylor, who was arrested in Durham, N.C., or Brannon, who was arrested in Tampa, Fla.
The workers made telephone calls and requests through Facebook for donations, claiming the funds would be used for charity and church business. However, Taylor and Brannon instead purchased luxury items and property, according to the indictment.
The money raised for the church was used to purchase Nelly’s former mansion at 17329 Hidden Valley Drive that is between Eureka and Wildwood. The church also bought four homes in the Chesterfield area, court records show.
Taylor and Brannon also allegedly used the money to buy Bentleys, Merecedes Benzes, jet skis, ATVs, a boat, 125 pounds of crab legs and a Rolls-Royce, according to court documents.
Taylor, who referred to himself as “Apostle” and “Jesus’ best friend,” claimed in writings and videos to have met Jesus for the first time when he was a teenager growing up in Memphis, Tenn. During one video, he claimed he was taken to heaven and given a tour. In another, he said he predicted the Sept. 11 attacks and knew to leave New York before the planes hit the World Trade Center towers.
He started operating a call center in Taylor, Mich., in 2013. The church received approximately $50 million in donations since 2014, the indictment said.
Brannon was one of Taylor’s “armor bearers,” who were tasked with providing him food, transporting him, maintaining his houses and cars and bringing him women from ministry houses, airports and other locations. The “armor bearers” also enforced impossible collection quotas to the unpaid people working at the various call centers, according to court documents.
When Taylor’s demands were not met, the workers were publicly humiliated, assaulted, given food restrictions, not allowed to sleep and psychologically abused, the indictment said.
A message Taylor sent to a victim in September 2021, according to the indictment, said, “Make sure no one eats until these numbers change. If they don’t change in the next 5 hours you’ll are going to work until 4am !!”
Those who worked at the call centers also were required to sleep in the call center homes, cut off any family members who questioned Taylor or the church and give up outside employment, prosecutors wrote.
“The indictment of David Taylor and Michelle Brannon demonstrates the FBI’s steadfast efforts to protect the American people from human exploitation and financial crimes, including forced labor and money laundering,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Reuben Coleman of the FBI Detroit Field Office said in a statement. “The alleged actions are deeply troubling. I want to thank the members of the FBI Detroit Field Office, with strong support from our federal and agency partners in the FBI Tampa Field Office, FBI Jacksonville Field Office, FBI St. Louis Field Office, FBI Charlotte Field Office, FBI Houston Field Office, and the Detroit IRS-CI Field Office, in addition to several local, county and state law enforcement partners, for their role in executing this multi-state operation. The FBI in Michigan will continue to investigate those who violate federal law and remain focused on ensuring the protection and safety of our nation.”
Conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor and money laundering conspiracy are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The forced labor charges also carry penalties of fines of up to $250,000, and the money laundering charge also carries a penalty of a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the properties involved in the money laundering transactions.
This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS-CI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Resnick Cohen for the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Christina Randall-James of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll free at 1-888-373-7888, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Information is available at humantraffickinghotline.org.
Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at justice.gov/humantrafficking.