A Utah mother allegedly kidnapped her autistic son’s bully and kept him at her home until he apologized — then threatened to have her husband beat him up.
Shannon Tufuga, 40, was slapped with kidnapping charges Monday after she rolled up on her son’s 11-year-old bully while he was riding his bike around his neighborhood in early September, according to charging documents obtained by KSL.com.
Tufuga was “driving around looking” specifically for the boy, whom she confronted and corralled into her car without his parents’ knowledge, the documents alleged.
She allegedly hightailed it back to her home in Provo, Utah, and kept the boy there until he apologized to her son.
The boy readily apologized, but even then, the vengeful mom wouldn’t let up, according to the police report. She “threatened to have her husband beat up” the accused bully and sneered that he “was lucky she did not run over his bike,” the documents alleged.
Tufuga eventually drove the shell-shocked boy back to his home.
The alleged kidnapping caused the boy “serious emotional distress” over the following months, and he now suffers from “high anxiety and has had to alter his daily routines significantly,” according to the charging documents.
Tufuga was charged with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse on Monday, both as second-degree felonies. The charges were lowered from first-degree felonies after the Utah County Attorney’s Office determined that a “reduction would be in the interests of justice.”
Tufuga’s son is on the autism spectrum, according to a post on her Facebook.
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