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Editor's note: Two felony charges against Jose Llavina were amended to class A misdemeanors on June 10, 2016, as part of a plea deal.MURRAY — A Murray business owner was arrested Wednesday, a day after he was charged with sexually molesting a female employee.
But the man says police never interviewed him or informed him of the allegations before the charges were filed and insists the accusations are false.
Jose Luis Llavina, 57, is charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, and one count of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor.
Llavina is the owner and president of American Loans, a mortgage lender at 5802 S. 900 East.
Llavina is accused of making unwanted sexual advances on an employee inside the business on three occasions between September and October of last year. During two of the incidents, he locked the door to an office with the two of them inside, charging documents state.
In the third incident, Llavina initially asked the woman to come into his office and at some point pushed her up against the wall, according to the charges.
Police say Llavina touched the woman inappropriately on each occasion.
"(The woman) told (Llavina) to stop touching her, but he continued to do so," the charges state.
Llavina, who was released from the Salt Lake County Jail after posting bond Wednesday, said he was never interviewed or questioned about the accusations, but admits he was asked to meet with police.
"I was never interviewed once by a police officer or the detective to find out my side of the story," he said. "It's unbelievable to me that any female employee in any company can make allegations like this, and then charges are being brought. It's amazing that this happens in America. I have never seen something like this happen."
Llavina said he was asked by a detective to come to the police station, but wasn't told what he would be interviewed for, so he instead contacted his attorney. The two of them later called the detective in multiple attempts to follow up, but never heard back, he said.
"That was the end of it," Llavina said. "And then here we go three months later and … these charges are being pressed, and I'm like, 'What?'"
A Murray police spokesman referred any response to Llavina's claims to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. District Attorney Sim Gill said late Wednesday that he would need to review the case before he could comment.
Llavina said he told the employee in question that he might have to fire her a few weeks before he was asked to meet with police. "This employee was having problems and I told her that we were going to have to let her go if she didn't change," he said, adding that the woman has not worked at American Loans since October.
"It's unfortuante that any employee can say lies like this and then the police (believe) it and (bring) a case that is completely false," Llavina said.
