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SARATOGA SPRINGS — After going missing on Wednesday, a Saratoga Springs man with disabilities and his mother, who also has a history of mental illness, were found in good condition in Las Vegas.
Connie Tao, 42, and her 21-year-old son, Eric, had last been seen in Saratoga Springs Wednesday. Saratoga Springs police considered Eric Tao as endangered because he has an intellectual disability and is unable to care for himself, and Connie Tao has been diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, police said.
The Office of Public Guardian was given guardianship of Eric Tao in November, according to state court records. But over the past few months, Connie Tao, 42, worked with authorities to gain certain privileges, such as having Eric sleep at her Saratoga Springs house at night as long as she took him back to the SP Foundation in Orem during the day.
Saratoga Springs police said Connie Tao picked up her son from the developmental center Wednesday about 6:30 p.m. but did not return him on Thursday. Police said she turned off her cell phone.
Connie and Eric Tao have been located. The Saratoga Springs Police Department appreciates everyone's help in locating Connie and Eric. — Saratoga Springs UT (@saratogasprngut) August 17, 2015
Their names were placed on the NCIC national police database and the Taos were located in Las Vegas by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department Thursday. They were taken to the St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson for evaluation.
Details about their disappearance have not yet been released.
Connie Tao was charged Aug. 1 with disorderly conduct in Saratoga Springs Justice Court, according to court records. She took a plea in abeyance to custodial interference in January, court records stated. In 2013, she was charged with assault in a case involving domestic violence, according to court records. That case was still on-going and scheduled to have a pre-trial conference on Friday.
In 2007, Connie Tao was also convicted on amended charges of attempted drug possession and attempted endangerment of a child, according to court records. She was also convicted of simple assault and disorderly conduct in separate cases that same year, court records stated.
