Man accused of abusing missionaries on TRAX train

SALT LAKE CITY — A 33-year-old man is facing criminal charges for alleged inappropriate actions with two church missionaries on a Utah Transit Authority TRAX train.

Paula Moala, of West Valley City, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

In July, two sister missionaries reported that they were riding TRAX when they met Moala and had a conversation with him, according to charging documents.

"Moala kept asking them if they had boyfriends and they began to feel uncomfortable," the charges state.

Investigators say Moala then stood up, "pulled down the front of his shorts and jumped up on top of (the women). Moala thrusted his pelvis against both (women)," according to charging documents. Detectives said the incident was captured on surveillance video.

Prosecutors have requested that Moala be held without the possibility of posting bail pending trial, noting that "the victims are missionaries and were speaking to the defendant while on a train ride when the defendant pulled down the front of his shorts (and) jumped up on top of them."

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