By Travis Uresk
6/26/23
Vernal. Ut.- On 6/11/23, at around 2:30 pm, Vernal Police Officer McCurdy was dispatched to a 911 call at 342 South 1350 West. Call notes said a female needed the police.
When the Officer arrived at the apartment complex, he could hear a commotion coming from the residence. Officer McCurdy knocked on the door and heard a female yelling inside the apartment.
The woman opened the door, and the Officer noticed a male juvenile standing inside the residence. The Officer had the juvenile come outside to the landing to speak with him. The juvenile mentioned they were having some family issues regarding a camping trip from which he and his little brother recently got home that their mother did not attend.
According to the juvenile, he and his little brother were minding their mother, who was identified as 34-year-old Zuli Barahona Salguero, when one of the children mentioned, "Are you going to hit me? I am going for a walk." Then Zuli hit him.
The juvenile went into the other room, took the belt away from Zuli, and told her not to hit his brother.
Officer McCurdy then spoke to Zuli with the assistance of her daughter to translate due to Juli speaking very little English.
The Officer noticed raised redness on the child's left arm consistent with a welt. The daughter described shutting the windows to the apartment while the disturbance was occurring due to the fear of being evicted from the apartment.
According to the daughter, the incident occurred when one of the boys was being verbally disrespectful to Zuli when she went and retrieved the belt, and Zuli continued to hit the child with the belt while the child was using his arm to block the belt.
Officer McCurdy determined there was probable cause Zuli committed the act of reckless child abuse due to the circumstances surrounding Zuli's conduct, consciously disregarding a substantial risk of conduct.
Zuli was arrested and transported to the Uintah County Jail.
