PROVO — A Provo man has been ordered to stand trial on charges of abusing his wife and children in a hidden room inside their house, and monitoring their every movement with surveillance cameras.

Last week, a 4th District Court judge set a three-day trial for January for Jaime Marcos Salinas, 32. He was bound over to stand trial on three counts of child abuse, a second-degree felony; two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of children, obstructing justice, tampering with a witness and forgery, all third-degree felonies; child abuse, a class A misdemeanor; and assault, a class B misdemeanor.

“In June and July 2019 in Provo, Jaime Salinas committed multiple acts of domestic violence against his wife, his 3-year-old son, and his 5-month-old son, which caused the wife to say she felt like a prisoner in her own home,” according to charging documents.

All family members reported being strangled, hit with a belt, punched and other forms of abuse in a “hidden room” under the stairs in their house, the charges state.

Initially, Salinas’ wife did not report the alleged abuse to police when questioned. Investigators later discovered that was in part because cameras had been installed throughout the house, “which his wife said were installed and used by Salinas to monitor and control their actions from his cellphone,” according to the charges.

When detectives initially went to Salinas’ home — “who was being accused of choking his children by the neck to the point of losing consciousness as punishment” — none of the victims would verify the allegations because Salinas “was allegedly in the basement of the home in a soundproof room viewing all of the interaction remotely through the use of video and audio recording devices located in every room of the home,” according to a search warrant affidavit.

On July 20, when Salinas was out of town, his wife contacted police, the warrant states.

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“The adult victim stated today that Jaime controls every aspect of her life through the use of cellphone tracking, video and audio recording devices inside and outside the home, and constant physical abuse to her and the children,” according to the affidavit.

Investigators say Salinas also stole the identify of his brother, using his driver’s license to get a Utah identification card under his brother’s name, court documents allege.

Salinas also has a $750,000 cash only arrest warrant out of Texas “for another domestic violence case where his wife is the victim. In that case, on at least two other occasions, Salinas strangled his wife by squeezing her neck with both his hands, which caused her to go unconscious,” the charges state.

Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting the YWCA’s Women in Jeopardy program at 801-537-8600, or the confidential statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online at udvc.org.

Domestic Abuse Resources

• Utah Domestic Violence Coalition operates a confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic abuse hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online: udvc.org.

Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:

• Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
• YWCA Women in Jeopardy program: 801-537-8600
• Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

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