Magna man shares night of torture following roommates' arrests

Editor's Note: The following content includes graphic details.MAGNA — Six people, all living in the same house, were arrested after police say they brutally tortured a roommate for hours.

Thomas Chapman, 41, had his lips stapled together, his ears stapled, staples put all over his chest, was cut from head to toe with a knife and a Dremel cutting tool, and was struck multiple times with blunt force objects including a crutch, keyboard, laptop and the butt-end of a shotgun slammed into his head, Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal said.

"I'm getting beat up with my laptop, keyboards, boards, sticks, having knives put in my throat, getting kicked in the ribs, getting kicked in the head, basically getting assaulted," Chapman said.

Surviving the beating

The torture began around 9 p.m. Saturday and ended about 4 a.m. Sunday, Chapman said. It started when one of the six housemates reportedly believed that Chapman had set him up.

"One of suspects claims over the last several weeks different people have pulled a gun on him in the street," Hoyal said. "They believe (Chapman) was responsible for it."

Over the weekend, the six people took their seventh housemate at gunpoint, handcuffed him, bound his feet with tape and tortured him in the basement.

"All night they tortured him," Hoyal said.

After hours of physical abuse, the alleged attackers released Chapman. He said they forced him to give them the name of the person he thought was involved in the alleged gun incidents on the street.

"I did it as a plea to basically get out of the situation," Chapman said. "Because once I was out of the basement and free, I was in control."

All six people arrested are believed to have participated in administering some form of torture, Hoyal said.

Chapman said he was told to leave the house wearing only a pair of underwear. He said he had every intention of carrying out justice on his own, but decided not to and went to a nearby relative's home and called police.

"I took the right route, I took the legal route," Chapman said. "I had no intention of calling the cops, I had no intention of calling anybody, I was just going to go solve the problem myself."

When officers arrived, the handcuffs were still attached to one wrist, Hoyal said. Chapman was taken to a hospital in critical condition. He was released Tuesday.

Chapman said he had moved into the house just a week and a half ago. He agreed to remodel the bathroom in exchange for rent.

"It is strange, it's ridiculous, you know what I mean? And there are six of them and one of him, so what is he supposed to do?" Jimmy Hernandez, a friend of Chapman, said Tuesday.

The arrests

Police served a search warrant on the house and later arrested six people for investigation of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and obstruction of justice with domestic violence and gang enhancements because more than three people were involved, although the group are not believed to be gang members.

In the basement, they found a bucket of cleaning solution with some of the tools used in the torture, the report states.

Jennifer Moses, 30; Lee Carl Moses, 26; David Masters, 55; Paula Masters, 43; Brandon Haggard, 20; and Tracy Jordan, 45, were all arrested.

Jordan has a history of drug- and alcohol-related cases and has spent time in the Utah State Prison, according to Utah court records.

Paula Masters, also known as Paula Jones, has a lengthy criminal history that includes convictions for forgery, theft by deception and dog attack, court records indicate.

Hoyal did not know Tuesday the relationship between all seven people or why they were living in the same house.

Contributing: Jeffrey Finley, Sandra Yi and Andrew Wittenberg

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