[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Based in Utah TikTok The star and social media influencer who first rose to fame amid a delicate controversy in the country’s Mormon community has made headlines. entire wrong reasons. And this weekend, that s**t show just got worse. Oof.
As you’ll recall, we’ve covered the story Taylor Frankie Paul. The 28-year-old Mormon social media star was arrested last week and charged with domestic violence after an incident involving his girlfriend. Dakota Mortensen.
But now, new details about the arrest are coming to light. It seems that initial reports of him being jailed on domestic abuse charges may not be telling the whole story. In fact, this new accusation against him is more concerning…
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According to a statement released on Friday afternoon by Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Paul is being considered for more serious charges in his case. The statement noted that detectives in the city of Herriman, Utah have reviewed video footage of Taylor’s domestic violence incident, which occurred on February 17.
New video purportedly suggests that Paul — who was initially arrested on charges of assault, criminal mischief, and domestic violence in the presence of a child — may have committed child abuse in the incident.
The DA’s office confirmed in a statement Friday that prosecutors are now considering whether to add felony assault charges to cases against social media influencers. The organization’s statement read that one of Paul’s children was “injured by the actions” of their mother that night, but did not elaborate further:
“This evidence also shows that at the time of the incident, Ms. Paul’s little child was injured due to Ms. Paul’s actions. Furthermore, our investigators have also investigated allegations of reckless child abuse at the State Attorney’s Office.
OMG…
Paul showed his 5-year-old daughter Indy and a 2-year-old son Ocean with your ex-husband Tate Paul. It is unclear which child was allegedly injured during the disturbance. It is still not clear exactly what incident that led to Taylor’s arrest.
When in New York Post asked for further clarification on the new charges Paul will face, law enforcement officials declined to comment further. But in a statement released about the arrest and its consequences, the Herriman Police explained:
“Ms. Paul’s status as a social media influencer has no bearing or impact on the investigation or the outcome of this case. All allegations of domestic violence are investigated thoroughly and in accordance with state law and establish criminal justice best practices to protect victims and ensure accountability. The Herriman City Police Department will not release the names or other information about the victims, their status or conditions, or statements made during this investigation.
As we reported late last week when news of the domestic violence arrest first broke, Paul’s girlfriend tried to stay quiet. Dakota spoke to the media after the revelation of her arrest as well. She remained silent and insisted that she was “not allowed to talk to him,” and said that her boyfriend “never hurt anyone on purpose.”
Related: Youth Pastor Arrested After Confessing to Underage Sex Crimes
Mortensen, 30, declined to provide further details at the time, adding:
“I’ll wait for everything to come out before I talk about it.”
Well, the details seem to be starting to come out now. And he’s not good…
Reaction, Perezcious readers?
If you have good reason to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Try calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Taylor Frankie Paul/TikTok/Instagram]