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PRICE — A Carbon County woman is facing felony charges after investigators say she intentionally hit her neighbor with her car twice in less than three weeks.
Margarita Elena Franco, 57, was charged Wednesday in 7th District Court with three counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and failure to remain at the scene of an injury accident, a class A misdemeanor.
About 7 a.m. July 15 and Aug. 3, Franco was driving in the Spring Glen area when she swerved at a neighbor who was out for her morning walk, according to Carbon County Sheriff's Lt. Tory Christiansen.
Franco "brushed" the woman with her car during the first incident and then drove away, the lieutenant said. Deputies had not found Franco and were in the process of obtaining a warrant for her arrest when she hit the alleged victim again on Aug. 3, Christiansen said.
"(The walker) suffered a pretty bad gash to her knee," he said, adding that after Franco hit the woman, she put her car in reverse in an apparent attempt to back over her, then circled around and drove toward the injured woman again before driving away.
- March 26: Franco sought 10 restraining orders, all denied
- July 15: First hit-and-run pedestrian accident
- August 3: Second hit-and-run pdestrian accident, Franco arrested later that day
- August 7: Franco booked into Carbon County Jail
The woman was taken to Castleview Hospital for treatment. Deputies found Franco later that day and arrested her.
Franco has called deputies in the past to report meth labs in her neighbors' homes or to claim she's been the victim of a drive-by shooting, Christiansen said. None of those claims proved true, he said.
"I don't know why she thinks (the injured walker) is a threat to her," Christiansen said. "It appears she may have some mental issues."
Court records show Franco sought civil stalking injunctions against 10 people on March 26. A judge denied all of those petitions. On Tuesday, however, a judge granted a temporary stalking injunction against Franco to the woman she is accused of hitting and the woman's husband.
Petitions for civil stalking injunctions are classified as private records in Utah.
Franco remains in the Carbon County Jail.
