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PROVO — Criminal charges were filed Friday against a Provo man who police say helped a woman wheel a deceased man in a chair across a motel parking lot.
Jake Thomas Miller, 22, is charged in 4th District Court with abuse or desecration of a dead body, a third-degree felony; obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor; and failing to report finding a dead body, a class B misdemeanor,
He and Francesca Delfina Farias-Swenson, 21, are now listed in court documents as co-defendants.
On July 6, Provo police were called to the America’s Best Inn & Suites, 1625 W. Center, after a witness spotted the two pushing a man who had died of a drug overdose across the parking lot in a wheeled office chair, according to charging documents.
Miller had paid for the motel room and was with Farias and the deceased man the night before, the charges state.
Farias is accused of taking pictures and recording videos of the man for hours as he was overdosing but she did not attempt to get help, according to charging documents.
“Farias-Swenson took pictures and videos of the deceased as he was overdosing and for some time after he had died. Some of these videos and images were captioned with phrases like ‘Vogue,’ ‘Drugs kids,’ and ‘Don’t do drugs kids,’” the charges state.
Farias took videos and pictures for over five hours, and for nearly an hour after it appeared the man was dead, the charges state.
It was also discovered that Farias made 34 phone calls, FaceTime calls and sent Facebook messages to other people, but none of those calls were to get help for the dying man, according to charging documents.
“Provo police officers also received a phone call from a concerned citizen who had become aware that (she) had been distributing images of the deceased, after he had passed, through texts and social media,” the charges state.
Some of those messages were to Miller who returned to the motel room.
“At that time ... Miller took a picture of the deceased. (He) sent text messages during that time to several individuals advising that he could not find a pulse on the deceased. Additionally, (he) sent texts to individuals stating that he did not want to get in trouble, so he left before police arrived,” according to the charges.
Both Miller and Farias attempted to hide drugs by flushing them down a toilet or by actually taking the toilet apart and hiding items inside it, the charges say. Miller is also accused of taking the deceased man's backpack after he died in an apparent attempt to hide it.
Both Miller and Farias have a long history of drug-related crimes, according to court records. Farias has been arrested at least seven times in the past year.
