A Utah mom is accused of kidnapping her son’s alleged 11-year-old bully, taking him to her home to apologize and then threatening to have her husband beat him up, according to charging documents.
Shannon Tufuga, 40, was formally charged Monday with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse — both second-degree felonies — though the incident occurred back in September.
Charging documents cited by KSL.com say Tufuga went looking for the boy and approached him as he was riding his bike around the neighborhood.
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Tufuga is accused of forcing the pre-teen into her car — without his parents’ knowledge — and taking him to her home in Provo, Utah. She allegedly kept him there until he apologized to her son.
But even after an apology, Tufuga “threatened to have her husband beat up” the boy and told him he was “lucky she did not run over his bike,” the charging documents allege.
She eventually drove the boy back home. The charging documents say the incident left the boy with “serious emotional distress” and that he still suffers from “high anxiety and has had to alter daily routines significantly.”
Tufuga’s charges on Monday were reduced from first-degree felonies after the Utah County Attorney’s Office determined that a “reduction would be in the interests of justice.”
Tufuga’s initial court appearance is scheduled for April 30.
