Frisco Man Anthony Taylor Sentenced to Life for Exploiting Child From Jail

Anthony Dewayne Taylor, 46, of Frisco was sentenced to life in prison by a Collin County jury on Feb. 11, 2026, after being convicted of Sexual Performance of a Child; the jury also assessed a $10,000 fine and Judge Richard Davis presided over sentencing. Prosecutors told jurors the conviction stemmed in part from calls Taylor made from an Oklahoma jail that investigators say directed a teenage girl to engage in sexual acts.

Frisco Police detectives recovered physical evidence at Taylor’s Frisco residence and secured recorded jailhouse calls from Oklahoma City authorities as part of the probe, Detective Kim Pruitt led the local investigation and coordinated with Oklahoma City officials to obtain the recordings used at trial. WFAA reported Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis and the DA’s office as saying those recorded calls were key in securing the conviction.

Jurors heard testimony that the victim was 14 when the abuse began and that the sexual exploitation continued for approximately two years, covering the victim’s ages 14 through 16 and occurring across multiple Texas cities and other states, according to the DA’s office and regional reporting. The victim disclosed the abuse to family members in December 2022 and was interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center as part of the Frisco Police Department investigation.

Taylor was in an Oklahoma jail after an October 2022 arrest in Oklahoma City on a murder charge when investigators say he placed multiple calls to the victim from the jail’s recorded phone line and directed the girl to engage in lewd acts. Collin County prosecutors and reporting from FOX4 and CBS said those jail calls occurred while Taylor awaited the Oklahoma murder prosecution and that Frisco detectives used the recordings to corroborate the victim’s account.

The Collin County trial included jurors’ review of Taylor’s prior criminal history; the DA’s office said jurors heard testimony tracing Taylor’s record back to 1999, and prosecutors described him as a career criminal and a confirmed gang member. Taylor previously pleaded guilty in December 2024 to the Oklahoma City murder and was sentenced there to 10 years in prison; the DA’s office post added that the Oklahoma sentence was followed by 20 years of parole in its description. CBS reporting also states Taylor had been paroled from Oklahoma on a drug trafficking charge in 2020, after which he reconnected with the victim’s family and gained access to the child.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis issued a statement after the verdict, saying, “This convicted murderer continued to prey on a child even from behind bars. A Collin County jury saw the full picture and delivered the only sentence that protects the public and our children, life in prison.” WFAA’s Facebook post about the case recorded community engagement with the story, showing 30 reactions, eight comments and six shares, and a highlighted user comment asking, “The child couldn’t have just hung up the phone?”

The case file identifies the charge as Sexual Performance of a Child and notes the punishment range Taylor faced was 5 years to 99 years or life because of prior felony convictions; the jury selected the maximum penalty on Feb. 11, 2026.