PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact Information: PolicePRUnit@slcgov.com

Media Request Form: https://police.slc.gov/mediarequest/

SLCPD Seeks Community Help, Kidnapping Suspect Arrested 

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) is requesting assistance from community members as detectives investigate an aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault case involving a female juvenile.

On Friday, May 24, 2024, detectives booked 77-year-old Tevita Mounga into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on charges that include aggravated kidnapping, sodomy, rape, aggravated sexual assault, and damaging or interrupting a communications device.

This investigation started at 5:14 p.m. on March 6, 2024, when SLC911 received information about a missing juvenile. SLCPD initiated its protocol for missing and endangered child.

The missing juvenile returned home and reported being sexually assaulted.

Detectives with the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Special Victims Unit began an investigation.

Detectives learned an unknown man approached the juvenile as she walked home from West High School. The juvenile entered the unknown man’s white truck and the unknown man drove away. While inside the white truck, the driver is accused of throwing the juvenile’s phone out the window and sexually assaulting her.

Detectives had very little suspect information about the driver or the truck he drove.

While detectives continued their investigation, they conducted forensic interviews with the juvenile and had other forensic evidence collected during the investigation analyzed.

In early May, the SLCPD received reports about a man in a white truck approaching female juveniles and having suspicious conversations with them.

Detectives with the Special Victims Unit worked closely with the SLCPD’s Crime Intelligence and Analysis Unit (CIAU) to utilize investigative technology to identify the driver of the white truck.

Through their investigation, detectives identified Mounga as the driver of the white truck referenced in the aggravated kidnapping case above.

Because detectives believe Mounga may have been approaching other juvenile females prior to his arrest, the SLCPD is requesting anyone with information about him to contact 801-799-3000.

Parents are asked to have age-appropriate conversations with their children and ask if anyone has approached their children and tried to solicit the juvenile to get into a truck.

Charges are only allegations, and every arrested person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Salt Lake City Police Department is not the custodian of record for jail booking photos. Utah Code 17-22-30 mostly prohibits the release of jail booking photos. Generally, a jail booking photo can only be released by the custodian of record after a conviction or when law enforcement determines the person is a fugitive or an imminent threat to a person or public safety. In Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office is the custodian of record for jail booking photos.

The Salt Lake City Police Department is committed to helping survivors of sexual assault receive a well-coordinated, victim-centered, and trauma-informed law enforcement response, regardless of when the assault happened.

Our dedicated responses include connecting the survivor with options for victim advocacy, free emergency contraception, medical treatment, information about victim services, and mental health care.

More information on specific resources and our guide for victims of sexual assault, please click here.

Individuals wishing to speak with a sexual assault victim advocate can call the SLCPD Victim Advocate 24-hour hotline at 801-580-7969.  Callers may remain anonymous, call from a blocked number, or use an alias name to utilize victims’ rights to privacy.

To report a sexual assault or speak with an SVU detective, call 801-799-3000.

The Salt Lake City Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) primarily investigates sexual assaults, crimes against children, physical child abuse, and elderly abuse.

SVU detectives are also members of the statewide Child Abduction Response Team (CART) and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Detectives and sergeants assigned to the SVU have advanced training in Child Forensic Interviewing, Trauma-Informed Victim Interviewing, and Sexual Assault Investigations. SVU detectives are committed to being at the forefront of best practices, trauma-informed investigations, and providing the best services to survivors of violent crimes.

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