PLEASANT GROVE — A manager at a care facility for disabled adults in Pleasant Grove was charged Friday with attacking one of the residents.
Senita Lotomoana Lavulavu, 48, of Springville, is charged in 4th District Court with two counts of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony.
Charging documents say Lavulavu "is a house manager of a care facility for disabled adults in Pleasant Grove," but the court documents do not name the facility.
On April 12, Lavulavu got into an argument with a resident who "has a severe intellectual disability and other developmental impairments. During the argument, (Lavulavu) pulled (the victim) to the ground and began strangling her," the charges allege.
The two were separated. But Lavulavu followed the woman to another part of the residence and pulled her to the ground again, "grabbed her hair, and started again strangling (her) with her hands around (her) throat," according to the charges.
Lavulavu then left the residence and turned herself in at the local police station.
She claimed to officers that "she lost control and pulled the victim to the ground during a verbal argument. She described the argument as starting with the victim throwing her cellphone and a TV remote at (her)," according to police booking affidavit. She allegedly said that when the woman began kicking at her, "that is possibly what set her off."
