Parents left 3 young kids in motel room to go drink, police say

SOUTH SALT LAKE — A Fort Duchesne woman was arrested after police say she left her young children alone in a hotel room with alcohol while she stayed in another room and didn't tell them where she was.

Makila Tavashutz, 27, was arrested for investigation of three counts of child abuse.

On June 30, police were called to the Ramada Inn, 2455 S. State, after an 8-year-old girl called the front desk "several times looking for her mother" early in the morning, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.

South Salt Lake police detective Gary Keller described the girl as "scared" and said she was "crying."

Investigators learned the girl and her two brothers, ages 4 and 5, had been left alone in a room for approximately three hours, Keller said. The two boys were asleep when police found them.

Tavashutz had checked into the hotel and put her children in one room and then went with her husband to another to drink, according to Keller.

"Mom was the one who actually requested the other room," he said. "Told the 8-year-old to take care of her two younger brothers. Didn't tell them where they were. In fact, she told the clerk at the Ramada (not to) tell her kids where she (was)."

At some point during the night, Tavashutz allegedly transferred the alcohol from her room to the kids' room, Keller said. When police arrived, they found several open bottles of alcohol and beer cans, the report states.

The children were not harmed, but the girl was very upset, he said. All three were taken to the Christmas Box House and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services was contacted.

The father was not arrested, Keller said.

Related topics