Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, March twenty fifth, and a Utah mom has been charged with kidnapping. Who would she take an actual kid, according to police, why because she wanted that kid to apologize to her kid. And with that, Welcome to this episode of Amy and GJ. This is a case robes, at least according to police, where the mom took the bullying of her child into
her own hands. Despite what the headline say, a lot of parents are going to be able to relate in some way, form or fashion of this story.
Yeah. So at first it's shocking, and you start to hear what police are alleging, and you think, oh, my goodness, how could this mom do that?
And then you hear her.
Side of things from her attorney, and then you start to imagine, as a parent what you would do. And many people listening might actually have experienced this if your child is being bullied and you don't feel like anyone is doing anything about it. And on top of it, let's say your child has disabilities, because that is a part of this case.
All right, So this case, we should say. The charges only came this week for an incident that took place September of last year. But this is a forty year old woman, Shannon to how do you say.
Your land to Fuga? I believe Shannon too Fuga.
Shannon to Fuga, who police have arrested and charged with kidnapping in one case of child abuse.
I believe these are both felonies, child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse.
All right, and this is all based on an incident quite frankly that is wild to hear about roades. But she took the kid, according to police, so she could force them to apologize to her kid. But the way this all played out, roads that make it sound like she was she was tracking them down in the neighborhood, which it's a whole caper.
It sounds like like, yes, like the beginning of a child predator story. So they say in the allegations that this mom drove around the neighborhood searching for her son's alleged bully to confront him.
She eventually finds him.
He's riding his bike, as a lot of eleven year olds do, okay, Yeah, so he's eleven years old, he's riding his bike. According to police, she stopped her vehicle right in front of his bike and then made him get into her car, then drove him to her house without his parents' knowledge, without his parents' permission. Again, he's eleven years old. And then, yes, as you pointed out, forced him to apologize to her son.
But she didn't stop there. According to police, she.
Then threatened to have her husband beat him up and told him that he was lucky she did not run over his bike.
This is great, she's angry.
According to police. This is all according to the police report. Okay, now, the next part is actually she went back to being a p took him home.
Yeah, she returned him home later that day, right there to his parents.
So she didn't say good luck, bike home.
She drove him back to his home safely. Make sure you get here, Okay, that part of the story. For whatever reason, as a parent, and we've all done this back and forth with kids and friends to make sure the kid gets home. We kidnapped you, and now we're going to make sure you get home safely. At that part of it just sounds wild.
Yes, and so now, according to the complaint, the boy, this eleven year old, has suffered significantly. They say he suffered serious emotional distress and high anxiety. They say he has significantly altered his daily routine because of this incident, that this is something that now has had a lasting emotional effect on him, that he has been basically traumatized because of this.
I didn't see can I'll ask you if you saw it somewhere in the reading. How long he was.
No, I don't know how many hours he was held captive.
A half hour could have been several hours depending on what the time was. This could be a much more horrible story. I mean, was he down in a basement for three hours or something?
I mean, I'm trying to imagine the exchange. How do you force a child? I guess he's eleven, so he probably felt intimidated just by the fact that it was real.
Yes, But I mean, and just.
I don't know what came out of that, Like making someone apologize obviously doesn't make them actually feel sorry for what they did or even technically admit that they did it because they're under duress. And I just wonder how traumatizing that was for her own son. And now he has to go back to school after all of this occurred. I just there's a lot of problems with this. And yes, the eleven year old boys. Emotional state is an issue,
and certainly her own child's emotional state. I wonder if she regrets it or if she thinks, hell yeah, I do it again.
Well, you know, you mentioned the emotional state of both kids, and you know what, we should probably focused as well on the emotional state of the parent. There's a position we have all been in as parents where your kid is going through something at school and you're helpless to get them out of it. And sometimes that's relationships with other kids. They just got to work their way through it.
And sometimes it's bullying. It's a little more serious, and sometimes you would even tell I'm sure you've told your kid, hey, you got to stand up to your bully. Hey, I'm not gonna go to school and defend you. You gotta work through this. But there's another level where a parent gets emotional and upset robes, and that is if they think their child is going through something at school and the school isn't doing anything about it. That will set a
parent off. I've brought this to your attention. My kid is being bullied, my kid is being picked, whatever it may be. And you get to the end of your rope to where what can I do. I can't go beat up a kid. I can't do this. What options do you have other than you just want to stat your kid and say, apologize to my child right now. You don't kidnap the kid to do it. But we've kind of all been in that position before where we've forced our own kid to go and say you apologize
right now. It feels like that kind of thing. It's extreme, obviously kidnapping, But Gez, I think a lot of parents will look at that and go, yeah, I've been that kind of frustrated and desperate. And we don't know which of her kids, right, but she said one of the kids, maybe more than one has disabilities correct comor she's trying to protect her kid and not saying she's guilty of anything. But a lot of parents can look at this and go, yeah, I.
Think a lot of parents can absolutely relate to the feeling and the emotion behind what she did, but maybe stop short of understanding actually following through. We can have the emotions, we can understand the emotions, it's the actions that are the problem that you chose to take.
Now, all napping sounds.
Yes, because it is actually if that's what happened. Now you mentioned it was interesting what you said because it actually sounds a lot like what we're hearing from Shannon's attorney. Now, by the way, she was reportedly a crossing guard for Provo City at the time of the incident, to a point where this investigation had to actually go to a different police jurisdiction. It couldn't go to the Provo City
department because she worked for them. But the latest statement of there is Shannon is no longer an employee of Provocity, so it looks like she lost her.
Position crossing guard.
As a crossing guard, yes, I thought that was interesting. She is a cross she knows these kids. She knows these kids. She's a crossing guard for Provo City. Okay, here's the statement from her attorney. We respectfully deny the allegations made and the charging document filed this week. We believe these allegations stem from a troubled child and are
not accurate. We look forward to presenting evidence to the state regarding repeat challenges of our client's children have faced at school, including the elementary school administration's ongoing efforts to address bullying and maintain a safe environment. It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in a position where we must defend the safety of.
Our our children and well being.
The filing of these allegations are a symptom of our societies failings and an erosion of traditional family values where children were once held accountable by their own parents. We remain committed to working through the legal process and will continue to seek a just resolution based on facts and evidence.
How'd you read that?
Uh, Look, it's the defense of saying, hey, and I do think there is a point that, yes, we don't see parents holding their children accountable. We defend and deflect and say and point fingers. There was a time when, yes, if you got in trouble at school, you got in more trouble when you got home. Now, when you get in trouble at school, parents call the school and say, my kid said he didn't do it. He's not staying at attention. However, that all may be true, it wouldn't
defend what happened. But she's saying it didn't happen the way this kid.
Said it did.
I'm the statement raids as Yep, she did it, and we are going to justify it. It seems like they are setting this thing up where they're pointing the fingers that you all drove her to this by not taking care of her children, by not making sure they were safe. We look forward to presenting evidence regarding repeated challenges. Who cares that's not evidence. Has nothing to do with whether or not she kidnapped a kid. You're presenting a different
case that got nothing to do with nothing. Now it could have an impact on a potential sentencing, maybe jury going yeah O or poor mom kind of a thing. But it sounds like they are setting up a situation here where she is the victim and was driven to this by you all's lack of care of her kids.
Very interesting.
All right, when we come back, we're gonna tell you what a local news reporter said Shannon told her about these incidents that were referenced basically by her attorney, and what she is facing if she is found guilty of these charges. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about a wild story out of Utah.
We've had quite a few of them lately. I must say we have been covering Utah.
I feel like NonStop between what's going on with Taylor, Frankie Paul and then of course, you had the au Pair affair murder trial.
No sorry, I'm getting okay, that's a funny.
It's Corey Richins, the Corey Richins Grief author poisoned husband murder trial. And now we've got a Utah mom who has been charged with kidnapping and aggravated child abuse.
Police say that.
She went out and snatched her son's alleged bully, forced him to apologize, threatened him with violence, then returned him home safely.
But she is charged.
And she told a local news reporter off camera, and they put this out there on their website, that this boy that she targeted, this eleven year old boy, had a history of bullying her children, not just her son, and she said some of them have disabilities, and when she took this to the school, little to nothing was done.
So she expressed her frustration that this has been an ongoing situation, that it's not just one of her children involved, but multiple of her children involved, and that some of them have disabilities, and that this eleven year old has been a constant source of pain for her children.
I don't know what obviously, this isn't the way. These are allegations. She's innocent, until proven guilty. No one would advocate that this was the way to handle it. Nobody will ever say, yes, I see what she was doing. Yes, damn right, nobody's going to do that. Even if we can all relate to how she was feeling, nobody's going to be on herself when it comes to this particular action. Robes. The first question I had as you were going through
that was, I didn't think about this. She ever to speak to the other kid's parents.
I just thought about that, Yeah, the first move. Yes, you'd think that that would be the first move. And look, we don't know, we haven't heard if that's true or not, but that would be an obvious reaction once you go to the school and you can't get resolution. I'd actually go to the parent first and then the school. But it seems like you would try to involve them.
She seemed to know enough about the kids, she knew what neighborhood to drive around in looking for.
Them, and the attorney did reference basically that parents aren't doing what they should, aren't holding their children accountable. So it almost seems as though in that statement it was implied that she did try to get the parents involved and that they chose to do nothing about it.
So she planned a premeditated crime, according to them, driving around the neighborhood looking for a kid.
She's a school crossing guard. She knows that's probably where. How she knows where?
They all like, she knows everybody, right, Yeah, she knows these kids.
Oh my goodness, and to your again. We grew up in a different place. We grew up in a different time, right in the south Midwest where we did our growing up to this day, Robes, I can it's the street over from Church Street where I grew up, another family lived, and this woman gave me a whooping outside of my parents. My parents are still at work.
The idea of that now, she.
Gave me a whooping, and I couldn't wait for my parents to get home so I could tell on her. They embraced her. They're like, what did he do? That was?
Wow?
Not just your parents holding you accountable, the neighborhood parents that aren't even yours. I remember that whoop into this day.
What'd you do? Is what I want to know.
There was almost always something convenient, but that idea Robes to look at this now. No, I don't know if she didn't kidnap me at.
The time, But I bet you smarted off to her.
No, I was very polite. I was respectful kid. I absolutely was. What now I would challenge you. I was an annoying kid, but I wasn't a smart Alex. But this type of thing now to where she feels like no one, the school and the parents aren't holding this kid accountable. So what can I do. I'll hold them accountable.
She had to know that that was going to come with consequences. And speaking of that, there is a hearing scheduled for April thirtieth. All eyes will be on that Utah courtroom. But she is free until then. It's not as if she's behind the bar, behind bars, but behind the bar, we go out too much behind bars.
She is.
This was interesting. So two counts of second degree felonies. I read a story where the prosecutors had the option to actually bring first degree felonies because the charges most often come with a first degree count. But they just decided given the circumstances, and that might speak to the bullying that her children f they might have decided at that point just considering all the information they have to
make it a little bit less. They said that they felt like that was more in line with what justice would require.
So I thought that was cool.
So two counts of second degree felonies, but each one carries a sentence of one to fifteen years in prison, a ten thousand dollars fine, or both.
So this is serious. And if she.
Were to be found guilty of secondary felonies, they're still felonies, and that comes with a whole lot of restrictions, and that that's a lifelong sentence in a lot of ways.
I mean, it's no matter what her what her kids went through, no matter how upset she was. I mean, we have to take it on its face. If these allegations are true. You can't snatch a kid off the street, no come to your house.
There have to be consequences, the absolutely and well, we will, of course stay on top of this story. But we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone on Amy Robock alongside TJ.
Holmes.
We will talk walked to you soon.