Man charged with beating 13-year-old boy with crowbar

Man charged with beating 13-year-old boy with crowbar

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SALT LAKE CITY — A 21-year-old man has been charged with beating a 13-year-old boy with a crowbar in an incident that prosecutors are calling gang-related.

Jesus Velasquez-Zamora, of Kearns, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with child abuse with a gang enhancement, a first-degree felony, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.

On Feb. 3, a 13-year-old boy was walking to Valley Junior High when three people in a car pulled up next to him, got out, yelled gang lingo at the boy and then beat him using a crowbar, according to charging documents.

The boy's condition was not revealed on Tuesday. A witness who saw the beating chased the men off and then wrote down their license plate as they drove away, the charges state.

Zamora, the alleged driver, was arrested a short time later. As he was being arrested he overheard an officer say the victim was 13, prompting Zamora to ask another officer if that was true, according to the charges.

Because Zamora was on probation for a felony offense when he was arrested, prosecutors have asked that he be held in the Salt Lake County Jail with no bail.

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Pat Reavy

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