Three Caretakers Arrested For Abusing One Of Their Resident's

By Travis Uresk

9/8/24

| Vernal, Utah | September 6th, 2024 |

At 7:00 pm, Deputy Oldham was dispatched to a suspicious call at 880 North 1500 East at North Eastern Services who houses individuals with mental health disabilities.

Deputy Russell and Deputy Oldham arrived at the address and noticed a young male running toward the residence.

Deputy Russell went over to speak with two North Eastern Service employees while Deputy Oldham walked across the street to talk to the complainant.

The complainant was across the street riding horses when a young man walked over and stood near the driveway near 1500 East. The complainant stated that the male victim appeared to have been sobbing, and his face was covered in blood. The complainant ran over to him, asking if he was alright and who had hit him.

The victim is nonverbal but can still communicate, either using sign language or pointing at what he needs.

When the complainant asked the victim who hit him, the victim pointed at a female who had her arm in a sling running across the street, yelling at the complainant to get away from him because he had thrown a temper tantrum.

Again, the complainant asked the victim who had hit him, and he pointed at the female who was in a sling, who was identified as 33-year-old Kayla Jeanine Evans.

When Deputy Oldham spoke with the complainant, he explained that he had dealt with the victim in the past, and it was possible he could have hit himself. The complainant stated that she has children and knows when a temper tantrum is being thrown, they strike the side of their heads. The victim was showing signs of being hit directly in the front of the face and nose area.

Deputy Oldham returned to Deputy Russell, who had been speaking with the employees. Deputy Russell explained that earlier, two managers were at the residence and assaulted the victim with a wooden dowel that is used to keep the back door shut. Deputy Russell called for an ambulance to look over the victim.

While the victim was with EMS, the deputies continued to speak with the employees, who explained that Kayla and another female employee, 23-year-old Ashia Ann Wyasket, walked into the victim's bedroom, where the victim began kicking the door.

As Ashia was walking toward the victim's bedroom, she grabbed the wooden dowel from inside the kitchen, walked into the victim's room, yelled at him, and proceeded to hit the victim with the wooden dowel, which Kayla would also take the wooden dowel, and hit the victim as well.

An employee explained that Kayla was not supposed to be at the residence due to her hand being broken, but another employee by the name of 58-year-old Nancy J Peters (3rd person arrested) had brought her over to the residence.

The victim had to be transported to the Ashley Regional Medical Center, where he was evaluated.

The two deputies stayed at the residence, where an employee explained they had an audio recording of the incident and also had photos of the victim after he was assaulted. The employee played the audio for the deputies of the incident.

As the deputies listened, they could hear the victim making noises and the sound of kicking what sounded like a wall or a door, but it was later explained that he was kicking his door because Kayla and Ashia were in the process of locking him inside of his room.

The deputies continued to listen to the audio, and Ashia could be heard yelling, "Knock it the fuck off," followed by a noise similar to the sound of wood knocking on something. The wooden knocking sounded as if it made contact with the victim’s head.

One of the employees confirmed that the victim was hit in the head by the wooden dowel. The noise of the wood knock could be heard multiple times before you hear both Kayla and Ashia laughing.

After the deputies listened to the audio, they asked where this had taken place. One of the employees wanted to show the deputies and took them into the kitchen. The employee said they were in the kitchen cooking dinner when Ashia entered and grabbed the wooden dowel.

The employee followed Ashia into the living room, where Kayla and another woman named Nancy were waiting. Ashia and Kayla entered the victim's bedroom, and the employee stated that they quickly grabbed their phones and turned on the video recording to capture the audio. When asked who was swinging the wooden dowel, the employee explained that Kayla and Ashia were handing the dowel back and forth.

As the deputies were standing in the hallway looking into the victim’s bedroom, there were still remnants of blood on the surrounding walls.

The employee showed the deputies photos of the injuries on the victim after and also the blood that was on the floor and on the victim’s shoes.

Another employee who worked in the residence next door was also present, and she explained her side of the incident.

She stated that she walked over, asking what had happened, and Kayla asked if she wanted the true story or the story they were going to use in their report.

All three employees stated that Kayla and Ashia had collaborated on the story that the victim had thrown a temper tantrum and was hitting his head on the wall. During this time, it was also discovered that Kayla had broken her hand from hitting the victim on the back of his head.

The employee stated that on August 11th, she witnessed Kayla jump onto the victim while he was sitting on the couch and started to hit the victim on the back of the head and back of his neck. The employees also stated that this had been an ongoing issue and that they were scared to lose their jobs and did not report any of the abuse.

It was also explained that Kayla and Ashia are managers, and due to Kayla's injuries, she had been working in the main office for North Eastern Services.

The director arrived, and the incident was explained to him. The director kept explaining that he was advised that the victim had thrown a temper tantrum and had injured himself. The deputies advised the director that they planned to speak with Kayla and Ashia.

After speaking with the employees, the deputies gathered and reviewed all the evidence collected. It was decided they would speak and place Ashia and Kayla under arrest. Deputy Russell would try to locate Nancy and speak with her.

Deputy Russell and Deputy Oldham went to Ashia’s residence and asked her to exit the residence. Once she was outside, they had her place her hands behind her back, where she was immediately placed in handcuffs.

Ashia was then placed in the back seat of Deputy Russell's patrol vehicle. Before any questions were asked, Ashia was read her rights. Once her rights were read to her, she was asked what had taken place. Ashia began explaining that she didn't do anything and that the victim was going crazy. She stated that the victim went outside and began throwing rocks, and she didn’t want to get hit with a rock. Once the victim came back inside, he took his medication and went into his room, and began freaking out by slamming his door and putting multiple holes in the wall.

Once Ashia explained her story, Deputy Oldham told her they had an audio recording of the incident. Deputy Russell told Ashia that honesty goes a long way. After explaining that they had the audio recording, Deputy Oldham asked again what happened. Ashia's body language changed. She looked defeated and began telling them she had hit the victim in the nose because he had tried to spit on her.

Ashia said she wasn't trying to hit him on the nose, only his finger, due to the victim making a gun with his fingers and pointing it at her. When asked if Kayla participated in hitting the victim with the wooden dowel, Ashia stated that Kayla did participate.

When asked how many times the victim was hit, she explained she couldn't remember. When asked to give a rough estimation, she stated maybe ten.

In the audio recording, it can be heard the victim getting hit multiple times. Ashia also stated that Kayla instigated all of this, and Kayla had also hit the victim. After speaking with Ashia, Deputy Russell transported Ashia to the Uintah County Jail.

Kayla explained that the victim had hit himself with the stick and that no one else hit him. Kayla kept explaining other incidents of the victim throwing a temper tantrum but wasn't very clear about the incident at hand.

Once Ashia was placed in another cell, Kayla was brought in. Kayla sat down and was reminded of her rights.

Deputy Oldham began questioning Kayla about what took place at 880 N 1500 E. Kayla began explaining that the victim broke her wrist when asked about it. She stated that the victim slammed her wrist into the corner of the wall. When asked about what took place that night? She explained that the employees called and stated the victim was going crazy and was outside banging his head. It was also said that the victim was throwing rocks at Ashia. Earlier, Ashia stated she remained inside when the victim was throwing rocks.

Kayla stated she arrived and was standing in the kitchen with a coworker when the victim came back into the residence. The victim went back to his room, where he began kicking his door. Deputy Oldham stopped Kayla and told her they had an audio recording of the entire incident.

Deputy Oldham asked at what point she and Ashia began hitting the victim with the wooden dowel. Kayla stated she hit him two or three times herself. Kayla also explained that she was tired of being attacked by the victim and brought up that he had broken her arm. When asked what Kayla said after the victim hit her arm against the wall, she backhanded him in the back of the head.

The deputy asked Kayla what gave her the right to hit the victim. She stated that she didn't.

Kayla also stated that the same week, the victim broke her hand, and another employee was in the hospital because the victim hurt her foot. This employee never mentioned the victim hurt her foot when the deputies interviewed her at the residence.

Deputy Anderton was speaking with Nancy Peters, who explained that she wasn't near the bedroom when the victim was being assaulted with the wooden dowel.

Deputy Oldham attempted to contact one of the employees on the phone to find out exactly where Nancy was during the incident but was unable to reach her.

After speaking with Kayla, Deputy Russell and Deputy Oldham went to the hospital, where the victim explained that the abuse had been going on for a long time. Multiple experiences of abuse have occurred. One of them was of the victim getting leaves stuffed into his mouth by Kayla and Ashia.

Photos were taken of the victim’s injuries. There were multiple bruises on his face, one across his nose and on his forehead, and what appeared to be a scratch mark on his neck. There was also a bruise right in the center of his chest and fresh welt marks that were on his side.

The employee called Deputy Oldham back, and he asked where Nancy was during the incident. The employee stated she was standing in the victim's bedroom doorway during the entire incident. Due to the conflicting stories, it was determined that Nancy was providing false information, and it was decided to locate her and place her under arrest for obstruction of justice.

Deputy Russell located Nancy, placed her under arrest, and transported her to jail after reviewing all the evidence gathered and hearing the witness testimonies.

Kayla was booked on the following charges: Aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult due to hitting him with the wooden dowel, abuse of a vulnerable adult, and due to her breaking her hand as she was striking him in the back of the head, which multiple employees witnessed, and obstruction of justice for giving multiple stories there conflicting with each story and Ashia giving us a story that collaborated with the witness's statements.

Ashia was booked in on the following charge: aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult due to her admitting to striking AE with the wooden dowel.

Nancy was booked in for abuse of a vulnerable adult with criminal negligence due to her witnessing the incident and not reporting or attempting to stop it—also obstruction of justice for providing false information.

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I can't believe anyone would actually defend these monters.