A Utah mother has furiously claimed that another parent abducted her son, leaving him traumatized over accusations that he bullied her daughter.
Amberlee Collazo, of Provo, is pressing charges against Shannon Marie Tufuga, 40, after she allegedly kidnapped her 11-year-old son and nearly ran him over in September, court documents viewed by ABC 4 show.
'I guess that Shannon had gone around asking some other kids in the neighborhood where he was at and stuff... she had been looking for him for some time,' Collazo told the outlet.
After nearly running the boy off the road while he was riding his bike, she allegedly grabbed his arm and told him 'he was going with her and took him to her home,' Collazo claimed.
The goal was to force the boy to apologize to her daughter, and Tufuga threatened to have her husband beat up the child.
However, Collazo said her son was the one actually being harassed. The boy mom claimed the girl, who was in the same grade as Collazo's son, had been relentlessly pursuing him romantically, despite him declining her advances.
'He explained to [Tufuga] that it was her daughter... who was the one who wouldn't leave him alone after the numerous times over the last year and a half or two years that he had asked her to please stop,' Collazo said.
Tufuga denied the accusations, saying through her attorney that 'these allegations stem from a troubled child and are not accurate,' ABC 4 reported.
'It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in a position where we must defend the safety of our children and well-being,' her lawyers said in a statement.
'The filing of these allegations are a symptom of our society's failings and an erosion of traditional family values, where children were once held accountable by their own parents.'
Collazo said her son came home in tears, telling her: 'Mom, I was kidnapped.'
'He could barely speak,' she recalled. 'He was so scared. He didn't even go back for his bike because he couldn't handle it. His dad had to go get it from them because he was too scared.'
He would reveal to his mother he had called the girl a 'fat torta,' when asking her to leave him alone.
Although Collazo and her son acknowledged he should not have resorted to name-calling, the mother said she understood why her child would resort to it as a last resort.
'I don't blame him for how he acted, but he shouldn't have called her any type of name like that. That's demeaning because she is a girl, and he has sisters, and he knows better,' she said.
'But at the same time, like I said, I don't blame him because he was pushed to his limit.'
Collazo said she wished Tufuga had just come to her home for a chat, rather than traumatizing her son.
Collazo said she wished Tufuga had come to her home and requested a chat mom-to-mom to figure out their children's ongoing tension.
'I would have gladly welcomed her in, and we could have spoken, but she didn't even try,' Collazo said. 'So that's kind of like another thing that I'm frustrated by.'
After returning to school, before the mother could talk to school officials, the educational institution called the police and an investigation was launched.
Initially, Collazo did not want to press charges against Tufuga, as she didn't want to be the reason a child would not have their mother, but after learning the other mom was remorseless, she changed her mind.
'I hope that she gets whatever she deserves because this is wrong, and my son's traumatized,' Collazo said. 'He goes the complete opposite direction to school now, and he tries really hard to avoid [Tufuga’s daughter].'
Her son now suffers from anxiety, especially when seeing Tufuga or her daughter. He also avoids Tufuga’s property, the mother said.
'She's scared him to the point where it's affected him pretty significantly, and it's not right,' Collazo said.
Tufuga has been issued a summons to appear at any hearings, but she was not taken into custody.
She has been charged with felony counts of child kidnapping and intentional or knowing aggravated child abuse.