Undercover Detectives Arrest Shasta County Man for Allegedly Targeting Minor
REDDING, CA — “Throughout the month of May, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit had an undercover decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl on an online platform. The undercover decoy had been chatting with a 27-year-old male, later identified as Cody James Taylor, of Redding. Taylor began sending explicit messages to this undercover decoy via text messaging. Taylor then began messaging the undercover decoy trying to arrange for her to meet with him for the purposes of having sexual relations. As a result of this investigation, a Felony Arrest Warrant was obtained for Taylor on May 13, 2025.
On Wednesday, May 14, 2025, Taylor arrived at a predetermined meeting location in Redding to meet with the decoy minor for the purposes of having sexual relations. Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit and Deputies with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office located Taylor, and he was safely taken into custody. During a search of his vehicle additional evidence was located indicating Taylor intended to carry out having sexual relations with the minor. Taylor was interviewed and later booked into the Shasta County Jail for Arranging to Meet with a Minor for Lewd Purposes in violation of 288.4(a)(1) PC, Arriving to Meet with a Minor for Lewd Purposes in violation of 288.4(b) PC and Communicating with a Minor with Lewd Intent in violation of 288.3(a) PC. His bail is currently set at $50,000.”
