Former jail guard sentenced for domestic violence

A former Washington County jail guard was sentenced Monday to two to six years in prison after pleading guilty to charges in two domestic violence cases stemming from incidents at his former home in East Bethlehem Township last year.
Washington County Judge Michael J. Lucas also ordered Andrew L. Taylor, 30, of Vestaburg, to complete six years of probation.
Taylor pleaded guilty to simple assault, simple assault on a victim under the age of 12 and one charge of child endangerment in the first of the two cases. East Bethlehem police said they were called to Taylor’s Fredericktown home April 25, 2016, and Courtney Kubicar Taylor reportedly told police her husband had grabbed her by the neck, punched her in the stomach and thrown her on a bed before pulling her off it by her hair.
Her daughter, then 5, was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital for evaluation after Courtney Taylor said she discovered significant bruising on the girl’s buttocks and hips while giving the child a bath, court records show.
Andrew Taylor was fired from his job at the jail early last May, a week after those charges were filed.
His wife also was a correctional officer at the jail at the time but was no longer in that position as of the beginning of this year, according to county salary records.
Taylor also pleaded guilty to terroristic threats and simple assault charges stemming from an incident that occurred a few months later. Police were called to the home early Sept. 6, 2016, when Courtney Taylor told state police her husband had opened a kitchen window from the backyard and said he would kill her if she did not open the door, according to court records.
She also said her husband, once inside her residence, “began trashing the bedroom” and threatened again to kill her if she called police, according to court records. State police said she also accused her husband of slapping her on the right cheek, choking her and holding her down on a bed.
The charges in the second case were dismissed when Courtney Taylor failed to testify at a preliminary hearing. State police refiled charges in that case.
Taylor also served a six-month sentence in Greene County jail for a protection-from-abuse order violation in that same incident.