Overview
- Shannon Marie Tufuga, 40, was charged in Utah’s 4th District Court with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse after prosecutors filed second-degree counts Monday.
- Charging documents say she searched for an 11-year-old, blocked his bike with her car, and took him to her Provo home without his parents’ permission.
- The boy apologized at her home, and Tufuga then allegedly threatened to have her husband beat him and said he was lucky she did not run over his bike.
- Prosecutors report the child suffered serious emotional distress and now has high anxiety that has changed his daily routine.
- The Utah County Attorney’s Office cited the interests of justice in reducing counts that are typically first-degree, and coverage relies on those filings, with some reports noting a Facebook post that says her son is on the autism spectrum as context.