Provo Canyon School staff arrested and accused of beating students

PROVO – Police arrested an employee at Provo Canyon School, a residential psychiatric treatment center for youth, after he punched a student in the face Tuesday.

The incident was captured on video showing two staff members in a room with two students, police said.

The students kicked the staff while “attempting to control one of the students.” The other student in the room, a 15-year-old girl, walks to the door and is confronted by Mulmauga Tuiloma, 27, according to a police affidavit.

The student slapped Tuiloma, who then “turned around and punched the victim on the right side of her face,” the affidavit states.

When questioned by police, the student had a visible mark on her cheek, “appeared disoriented and confused” and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. Tuiloma told police he “used a restraint technique” before admitting to punching the victim in the face, the affidavit states.

Tuiloma was booked into the Utah County Jail on Tuesday on charges of aggravated child abuse. No charges had been filed against him as of Friday.

Provo Canyon School was the focus of national criticism after Paris Hilton and other former residents called for the school to be closed, saying they were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse during their time there in the 1990s and 2000s.