Utah mom seeking apology from young boy charged with child kidnapping

PROVO, Utah (KSL) — A Provo woman is facing felony charges accusing her of forcibly taking a young boy to her home to make him apologize to her son.

Shannon Marie Tufuga, 40, was charged Monday in 4th District Court with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse. The charges are typically first-degree felonies, but the Utah County Attorney’s Office filed them as reduced second-degree felonies “after determining that the reduction would be in the interests of justice.”

On Sept. 17, 2025, Tufuga “was driving around looking” for an 11-year-old boy. When she spotted the boy riding his bicycle, Tufuga confronted him about bullying her child, according to charging documents.

“She stopped her vehicle in front of (the boy’s) bike and made (him) get into her vehicle. (Tufuga) transported (the boy) to her home in Provo, without (the boy’s) parents’ knowledge or permission, to have (the boy) apologize to her child,” the charges state.

The boy apologized. But Tufuga then “threatened to have her husband beat up (the boy) and said that (he) was lucky she did not run over (his) bike,” the charges allege.

Tufuga then drove the boy to his home. The incident has caused “serious emotional distress” to the child, who now “has high anxiety and has had to alter his daily routines significantly,” the charging documents say.