Overview
- Prosecutors in Utah charged Shannon Tufuga, 40, with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse, filing both as second-degree counts in the interest of justice.
- According to the criminal complaint, on September 17, 2025 in Provo she found an 11-year-old on his bike, blocked his path, and forced him into her car.
- Investigators say she drove him to her home and made him apologize to her son without the boy’s parents’ consent.
- The filing alleges she warned the boy her husband would beat him up and told him he was lucky she had not run him over.
- The complaint describes grave emotional distress and severe anxiety for the child, and his mother told ABC4 he came home terrified saying, “Mom, I was kidnapped.”