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ST. GEORGE — A southern Utah woman accused of sexual battery after police said she tugged on a woman's skirt that she deemed was too short has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Ida Lorenzo, 49, of Santa Clara, was charged in April with sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor, following the incident at a crowded St. George restaurant, which later went viral in a video on social media.
Lorenzo pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of sexual battery, a class B misdemeanor, in a plea in abeyance on July 30, according to court records. If she meets the conditions of the plea, the charge could be dismissed in a year.
The conditions include having no contact with the victim, obtaining a mental health evaluation within 120 days and completing any recommended mental health treatment, and committing no other crimes.
The video of the incident in St. George shows Lorenzo confronting someone and saying, "I happen to work for the state," while displaying an ID badge and threatening to call child protective services. Lorenzo called 911 the following day to report harassment in connection with the confrontation the night before.
"Ida would like to talk to an officer about a woman wearing a skirt that had hiked up," according to a police booking affidavit. It said "there were several minors and small kids present; staff and other adults weren't addressing the issue."
Lorenzo is accused of then approaching the woman — who was 19 years old, according to friends heard in the video — and pulling on her skirt.
Lorenzo said she was concerned about children in the restaurant, according to the arrest report, and told police the other woman was "wearing explicit clothing that was exposing" herself inappropriately.
She told police she "never touched the female, and that she had only touched the female's skirt," the affidavit states.
Lorenzo was employed by the Utah Attorney General's Office at the time of the incident but was fired the same day she was charged, according to records released to KSL in May through a public records request. She was hired as a legal secretary on March 4.
