Chattanooga pastor who was a UTC basketball star faces federal fraud charges

Ricky Lee Taylor Jr.

A Chattanooga pastor who was a UTC basketball star faces federal wire transfer charges.

Ricky Lee Taylor Jr. is also charged with tax fraud and the government says he owes at least $932,853.

Federal information says that in 2021 Taylor operated Potter’s Wheel Trucking, Ricky Taylor Basketball, Arena of Praise, Spirit Logistics and Reap Real Estate and Property.

It says Taylor applied for COVID Paycheck Protection Program loans on behalf of those entities.

The report said the loan applications were fraudulent because they “grossly exaggerated” the number of employees and payrolls of the companies.

Taylor submitted eight fraudulent loan applications and received $1.8 million “that significantly exceeded any amount to which she would have been entitled,” authorities said.

The information says that for the 2021 tax year, Taylor reported $72,484 in income, while she actually had $1,806,201 in income.

It was reported that there was a fiscal deficit for 2021 of $620,674.

Taylor finished his career at UTC with 1,225 points and then played professional basketball in Europe.

Ricky Taylor Basketball is a Christian basketball organization specializing in AAU tournaments/teams and skill development.

He is the senior pastor of Arena of Praise Church on Brainerd Road.

His biography says:

Pastor Ricky Lee Taylor Jr. is a native of Brownsville, Tennessee. He is the only son of Ricky Taylor Sr. and Mrs. Kimberly Sangster.

Pastor Ricky Taylor accepted Christ at the young age of 9 and began playing drums at the age of 6 at Refuge Temple Church of God in Christ and Community Church of God in Christ.

Pastor Ricky Taylor received his early education in the Haywood County School System and graduated from Haywood High School in May of 2008. While playing at Haywood, he finished as one of the top 5 scorers in Haywood High School history. A month after graduation, Pastor Ricky traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee where he received a full basketball scholarship to play at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to begin summer classes. He decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. While playing at UTC, he finished as the 6th all-time leading scorer in school history and finished with a school record 41 points against another NCAA Division I institution. While playing for the Mocs, Elder Ricky Taylor won a Southern Conference Championship (2009) and two Northern Division Championships (2009 and 2011) while making an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009. While playing Division I basketball, Pastor Ricky Taylor spearheaded the Church of God in Christ’s college ministry at UTC where he led Bible studies for young adults and college students. The Bible studies began with just a handful of college students and later grew to 40-50 students.

Pastor Ricky had high expectations of playing professional basketball, however, because he did not receive a professional basketball contract, Pastor Ricky Taylor launched his basketball ministry called Ricky Taylor Basketball where he hosts basketball camps while spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Additionally, Pastor Ricky began his coaching career at Christian Heritage School in Dalton, Georgia where he led the team to win ten more games than the previous season. Elder Ricky also began working at Volkswagen as a staff accountant while coaching at Christian Heritage. After being on the job for 7 days, Pastor Ricky was released from Volkswagen as a staff accountant and trusted God during the process. Months later, he received a phone call from his agent telling him that he had received a professional basketball contract to play in Germany’s Pro A division for his rookie season.

After having a successful career in Germany, Pastor Ricky was given a contract to play professionally the following season in England. Playing only two months for the Newcastle Eagles, Pastor Ricky Taylor was released from the team. A week later, he traveled back to the United Kingdom to play in Ireland, where he led the country in scoring with 26.2 points per game, as well as earning EuroBasket All-Irish Team, All-Irish First Team selection, November Player of the Month, and was Player of the Week for multiple weeks.

At the age of 18, Pastor Ricky Taylor was asked to speak on behalf of Community Church of God at Christ Youth Day service where he preached his first sermon, “X Marks the Spot.” During his message, the congregation stood the entire time, which gave birth to Pastor Taylor’s ministry. He joined under the supervision of McDowell Memorial Church of God in Christ under the direction of Superintendent C. H. Douglas. He later became a member of Greater Liberty Temple Church of God in Christ under the leadership of Pastor J. Anthony Taylor, who currently serves as Senior Pastor of Chattanooga’s Greater Community Church of God in Christ. Under Pastor Taylor’s mentorship and leadership, Pastor Ricky began to develop his preaching and teaching of God’s Word.

On August 11, 2013, Pastor Ricky Taylor was licensed as a minister in the Church of God in Christ at Greater Chattanooga Community Church under the leadership of Pastor J. Anthony Taylor. He was later appointed as the Young Adult and College Pastor. On August 7, Pastor Ricky was ordained an Elder in the Church of God in Christ by Bishop Brandon B. Porter, COGIC Prelate of the Central Tennessee Jurisdiction. On January 9, 2016, Pastor Ricky Taylor was installed as Vice President of the Central Tennessee Jurisdiction where he led a youth rally for the Parsons District and faithfully served at the Central Tennessee AIM Convention.

At the age of 27, Pastor Ricky Taylor prayed and fasted for his next assignment and obeyed the voice of the Lord to launch a nondenominational ministry called The Arena of Praise in Chattanooga, TN. On August 27, 2017, The Arena of Praise held its first service at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The Arena of Praise joined Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship on July 13, 2017, where Bishop Joseph Walker serves as the Presiding Bishop and Pastor Ricky became the Senior Pastor.

Daily, Pastor Ricky Taylor can be found in the gym training youth in the community to play basketball. He currently serves as an Official NCAA Scout and a USA Gold Licensed Coach. He is also the founder and CEO of three companies: Ricky Taylor Basketball, a basketball ministry that hosts NCAA tournaments while spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ; Taylor Made Taxes, a tax preparation service; and Reap Investments, a real estate investment company. Pastor Ricky Taylor preaches that “no matter what has happened in the past, God still has a plan for your life.”