A Utah woman faces criminal charges after allegedly snatching an 11-year-old boy who was riding his bike, driving him to her home and making him apologize to her son for supposed bullying, according to a criminal complaint.
Shannon Tufuga, a 40-year-old from Provo, was charged Monday with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse in connection with the incident, which happened last year, according to the Utah County Attorney’s criminal complaint.
Tufuga drove around in search of the 11-year-old, identified in the complaint as KB, and found him as he was riding his bike on Sept. 17, according to the complaint.
“The defendant was driving around looking for KB wanting to confront him about bullying her child,” it says. “When the defendant found KB she stopped her vehicle in front of KB’s bike and made KB get into her vehicle.”
She then drove him to her home without his parents’ knowledge or permission, where she made him apologize to her son and also threatened to have her husband “beat up” the boy, the complaint states.
Tufuga told him he was “lucky” she didn’t run over his bike when she found him riding it, according to the complaint, before she ultimately returned him to his home that day.
It’s not clear if Tufuga has retained a lawyer for the case. An attorney who represented her in a civil matter in 2023 did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the public defender’s office could not be reached.
The incident caused the boy to suffer “serious emotional distress” and “high anxiety” and has forced him to “significantly” alter his daily routines, according to the complaint.
It’s not clear why prosecutors took so long to file charges. The county attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The charges in the kidnapping case are listed in Utah Criminal Code as first-degree felonies, but prosecutors filed the charges as second-degree felonies after determining the reduction would be “in the interests of justice,” according to the complaint.
Under state law, someone prosecuted for a second-degree felony could be punished with a sentence of one to 15 years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.
Provo is a city of around 115,000 people, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City.