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PROVO — Police are asking for the public’s help in locating two men in connection with a kidnapping and assault case that took place on November 18.
Provo police said in a tweet the two men they are looking for are Joseph Tukuafu and William Pauni. They are considered dangerous, Provo police Det. Nick Dupaix said.
The male victim in the case, who was not identified, was safe.
The man had met up with Tukuafu and Pauni, two of his work associates, in the morning on November 18 at a Frontrunner station, Dupaix said.
Tukuafu and Pauni were supposed to pick the man up, but he told police that when he got into their car, he was hit in the back of the head, Dupaix said. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a room at the Super 8 hotel at 1555 N. Canyon Road in Provo, Dupaix said.
The man told police that Tukuafu and Pauni tried to drug him, Dupaix said. After a short struggle, the man was able to escape from the room. Dupaix said the two men then fled in a blue van, possibly a Chrysler or a Dodge.
The incident was reported to police at about 8 a.m. by people at the hotel who saw two men chasing another man, Dupaix said.
No descriptions of Tukuafa or Pauni were released other than the photos released by Provo police.