Tampa church leader arrested in forced labor, money laundering case

Two self-professed religious leaders have been arrested for their role in an alleged multimillion-dollar conspiracy following FBI raids across the country Wednesday morning, including one in Tampa’s exclusive Avila neighborhood. 

David Taylor, 53, and Michelle Brannon, 56, were arrested Wednesday after a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan returned a 10-count indictment charging the pair with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit forced labor, leaving a trail of alleged victims across Michigan, Florida, Texas and Missouri. 

According to FBI officials, local law enforcement arrested Brannon at 706 Guisando De Avila in Tampa, a $9.27-million property owned by the church, according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser. Taylor was arrested at a hotel in North Carolina, and SWAT and FBI agents also raided a hotel owned by the church in Houston. 

According to the indictment, both Brannon and Taylor are leaders of the Kingdom of God Global Church, formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries International. Brannon is the “Executive Director” of the KOGGC and carried out orders from Taylor, who referred to himself as “Apostle” and “Jesus’s best friend.”

Their organization ran nine call centers that solicited donations for the church every day, first in Michigan and later in locations across the U.S. including Florida, Texas and Missouri, authorities say. Taylor recruited individuals from across the country to work in the call centers, where they were instructed to make a certain number of calls or raise a specific dollar amount each day without being paid, officials allege.  

As a result, prosecutors say KOGGC received millions of dollars in donations each year, approximately $50 million since 2014, which Taylor allegedly used to support an extravagant personal lifestyle. 

Taylor also recruited unpaid laborers to work as his “armor bearers,” his own personal servants who were required to fulfill his demands around the clock, prosecutors say. Both Taylor and Brannon controlled every aspect of their victims’ daily lives, federal prosecutors add. Victims slept in the call center facility or in a “ministry house” and were not permitted to leave without Taylor or Brannon’s permission. 

In addition to providing Taylor with food and transportation and maintaining his houses and cars, “Armor Bearers” were also tasked with transporting women to Taylor from ministry houses, airports and other locations. When these women left, the indictment says, Armor Bearers ensured they took Plan B emergency contraceptives. 

According to the indictment, Taylor set unobtainable daily, weekly, monthly and yearly monetary donation goals for call center workers and those who fell short or disobeyed an order were severely punished by both Taylor and Brannon. 

Those punishments, officials contend, included public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults and threats of divine judgement in the form of sickness, accidents and eternal damnation. Taylor regularly claimed that if an individual failed to obey his orders they were defying God and would suffer in Hell, the indictment says. 

Victims were forced to cut off family and friends, and full-time staff were required to give up any outside employment. They were instructed to apply for a government funded Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, claiming to be homeless, and then give the card to Taylor or Brannon, the indictment says. 

KOGGC, meanwhile, say prosecutors, received millions of dollars in donations each year — which Taylor and Brannon used to purchase luxury properties, luxury vehicles, jet skis, ATVs, and a boat.

“Money laundering is tax evasion in progress, and in this case, the proceeds funded an alleged human trafficking ring and supported a luxury lifestyle under the guise of a religious ministry,” Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of IRS Criminal Investigation, Detroit Field Office, says in a release from the Department of Justice. “IRS-CI stands committed to fighting human trafficking and labor exploitation, and pursuing those who hide their profits gained from the extreme victimization of the vulnerable.”

Taylor will appear on the indictment Wednesday in Durham, North Carolina, while Brannon will appear on indictment in Tampa. 

They face up to 20 years in federal prison for each charge, as well as fines up to $250,000 for conspiracy to commit forced labor, fines up to $250,000 for committing forced labor, and fines up to $500,000 or twice the value of all properties involved in the money laundering transactions.