Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Six people from a Bluffdale group home face charges tied to a cover-up after a teen's escape.
- Malachi Portwood, 16, escaped, stole a van, and was subsequently shot and killed by Sandy police.
- Group home directors failed safety measures and delayed reporting Malachi's escape, charges say.
BLUFFDALE — Six people associated with a Bluffdale group home where a 16-year-old boy sneaked out and was shot and killed by police are now facing criminal charges — including the facility's directors and consultants.
They are accused of abusing or neglecting a child and/or lying to investigators or hiding evidence.
Among those charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court:
- Hanan Obied, 25, of Salt Lake City, is charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability and four counts of witness tampering, third-degree felonies; and evidence tampering and obstruction, class A misdemeanors.
- Muhamed Dahir, 29, of Salt Lake City, is charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability and witness tampering, third-degree felonies.
- Lusinita Makalio, 57, of Taylorsville, is charged with obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor.
- Nadira Yassin, 52, of Murray, is charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, a third-degree felony.
- Mele Pauni, 54, of Sandy, is charged with abuse or neglect of a child with a disability and witness tampering, third-degree felonies; and evidence tampering and obstruction, class A misdemeanors.
- Kauata Bloomfield, 50, of South Jordan, is charged with abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, a third-degree felony.
Obied and Dahir were directors of Future Rising Agency and Bloomfield and Pauni were consultants, police say.
On Nov. 9, 2023, 16-year-old Malachi Portwood sneaked out of Future Rising group home — just one day after arriving — stole a U.S. Army van from a recruiting station at 814 E. 9400 South, hit a motorcyclist causing serious injuries, and was shot and killed by Sandy police a short time later.
The directors "did not have proper safety measures in place, including measures that had been ordered by a juvenile court judge" to prevent Malachi from leaving and Dahir "did not ensure that staff would adequately supervise (Malachi), and had stated that staff could sleep when (Malachi) was asleep," according to charging documents. "This allowed (Malachi) to escape ... the morning of Nov. 9, 2023."
After Malachi escaped from the Future Rising's group home, Bloomfield "sent a text stating to (the other defendants) not (to) call the police until they 'have the story straight.' Also, (Bloomfield) told (another staffer) to not do anything until Bloomfield finished her 'investigation.' This caused the required reports about (Malachi's) escape to be critically delayed and false," the charging documents allege.
Similarly, Pauni "was also present on the phone call with (Malachi's) mother when Obied provided the false report to (his) mother," the charges say.
Malachi had "significant intellectual challenges, including autism" and a history of running away from group homes in the past, according to investigators.
Because of that, Malachi's support plan by the state "had a number of security/safety recommendations for Future Rising to follow, which included having locks and alarms on all doors and windows and being supervised 24/7. The (plan) instructed Future Rising to call police, a guardian, and the support coordinator as soon as possible after (an escape). It also states that staff should follow and try to find (the teen) as soon as possible," according to a pair of search warrant affidavits served by the Utah Attorney General's Office during the course of its yearlong investigation.
But on Nov. 8, 2023 — the same day Malachi moved in — a support coordinator for the teen walked through the group home "and noticed the home did not have alarms or locks installed," the warrants state.
Charging documents further note that "when Future Rising took custody of (Malachi) on Nov. 02, 2023, (he) was placed at the same home he escaped from (previously) which had no heat, a severe bed bug infestation, and had vomit stains."
On Nov. 8, 2023, he was moved to the new Future Rising home in Bluffdale. The support coordinator for Malachi "was very concerned that no locks and alarms had been installed at the new home" and was told they would be installed the next day, the court documents state. "(She) then firmly instructed that staff would need to pay even more attention to (Malachi) until the locks and alarms were installed, even if staff needed to 'camp outside' (his) door."
By 11 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2023, a woman who went to clean Malachi's room discovered that he was missing.
At 2 p.m., employees held a meeting and agreed "the police would be told the story that (Malachi) escaped about 2 p.m. during an outing to the local library in West Jordan," according to the charges.
Prosecutors, however, say the state coordinator and Malachi's mother were informed at about 2:20 p.m. that he was missing, but police were not called until three hours later.
An employee "first notified Bluffdale police that (Malachi) was missing on Nov. 9, 2023, around 5:35 p.m. (She) told Bluffdale police that (Malachi) went missing from the West Jordan Library around 2 p.m.," which was nearly 20 minutes after the boy had already died, according to the affidavits.
Staff members held another meeting on Nov. 10, 2023, about 1 a.m. during which "Obied and Pauni agreed that it would be best to erase all communications that they had shared that day concerning (Malachi) and his disappearance," the charges allege.
As of Tuesday, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office had not determined whether the police shooting was legally justified.
