EAGLE MOUNTAIN, May 17, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — An Eagle Mountain man has been jailed for alleged child torture and threat of violence after he allegedly physically assaulted his daughter prior to forcibly shaving her head.
Julio Cesar Mena, 51, was jailed on Thursday for investigation of alleged child torture, a first-degree felony, and three counts of threat of violence, a class B misdemeanor.
The complainant, the girl’s stepmother, said a surveillance camera showed him push the 14-year-old victim into a chair near electric hair clippers, his arrest document says.
When the child tried to get the clippers away, Mena was seen on the recording slamming her head into the floor. He kicked the child in the legs, and he dragged the girl, who weighs about 100 pounds, down to a basement bathroom, and used general purpose scissors to cut her hair before using the clippers to shave her head, the arrest document says.
The arresting officer, from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, noted the child had cuts and abrasions to the scalp “from the aggressive manner in which she was shaved,” the arrest document says.
“Throughout the torture, the victim is heard pleading with Julio to stop, and asking him ‘why,’ repeatedly calling him ‘Papa.’
“The victim reported Julio grabbed her by the hair in the bathroom, forcing her to look in the mirror, and stated this was all her fault.”
During an interview, Mena told investigators he was frustrated with the girl “regarding her lack of school attendance and other teen-related issues. Julio stated, as a punishment, he shaved the victim’s head. He said, in the past, he did the same thing to his older daughter and it ‘fixed’ the problem.
“Julio showed no remorse for his actions or the emotional damage it caused the victim,” the officer wrote. “I observed a small amount of dried blood on Julio’s hands.”
The reporting party told police Mena had threatened her and his daughters with bodily harm over text message, the arrest document says. She reportedly showed investigators the messages.
The deputy noted Mena had withdrawn the victim from her school on the day officers were called, and was planning to transport her to Florida to be raised by her biological mother. It also said Mena had recently applied for a handgun via background check, and reportedly attempted to lure the victim’s older sister to the home the same day “to perform similar abuse.”
“Julio intentionally and knowingly committed serious injury to the victim that was inflicted in an exceptionally cruel/depraved manner to cause the victim significant pain and extreme psychological pain and anguish,” the arrest document says.
Mena was ordered held without bail in the Utah County jail.
