Trump Town owner calls assault, indecent exposure charges ‘fake news’

Donald “Whitey” Taylor, owner of Trump Town, a Boones Mill store dedicated to merchandise celebrating the 45th president, and a candidate for mayor in that same small town, was arrested Tuesday on charges of indecent exposure and assaulting store employees. 

Taylor, 74, sent a text to Virginia Business, describing the criminal charges against him as “election interference.”

“Fake news,” he wrote. “I did not do anything they accuse me of, OK? Not guilty.”  

Taylor, who opened Trump Town in 2020, faces three charges of misdemeanor simple assault and one charge of misdemeanor indecent exposure. The charges were taken out by three women, all employees of Trump Town, on Oct. 22 through the magistrate’s office. The charges were not part of a law enforcement investigation, according to Sgt. Megan Huston, public information officer for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office

Taylor was arrested Tuesday, processed and released on a recognizance bond, Huston stated.  

“The Office of the Sheriff has assigned an investigator to reach out to the victim(s) to get statements related to these charges,” Huston said in a statement Friday. “This remains an active investigation at this time.”

Taylor is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in Franklin County General District Court on Oct. 30. 

One woman, an employee at Trump Town, wrote in a criminal complaint that, on or around Sept. 26, Taylor called her to the back of the store, where he exposed himself and asked her to perform a sex act. The woman also noted that on Oct. 13, Taylor grabbed her buttocks. “He has repeatedly sexually, mentally, emotionally and physically, verbally harassed me,” the woman wrote.

In another criminal complaint, a woman wrote that, on Oct. 15, Taylor “grabbed my arm and shoved his hand in my pants and restrained me,” adding that Taylor has “continually verbally abused me and other co-workers for months and years.”  

A third woman wrote in a criminal complaint that Taylor grabbed her breast when she asked for her paycheck.

Taylor also owns Franklin County Speedway, which is now operated by one of his sons. 

Boones Mill had a population of 259, as of the 2020 census. U.S. Route 220, which runs through the town, is populated with political signs for the mayoral race. A house sitting adjacent to the busy road has a shed with a spray-painted message reading, “Hell no to Whitey Taylor for mayor.” 

Taylor is running against the incumbent town mayor, Victor E. Conner. Both candidates are running as independents.

In a statement, Conner expressed support for the women who filed the charges but declined to comment on Taylor’s arrest. 

“I will not stoop to that level to undermine my opponent or anyone else,” Conner said in a statement. “My integrity and character speak for itself and will continue to move forward putting family values and traditions first.”