KEARNS, Utah, Aug. 29, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Two people have been arrested after Unified police responded to a child abuse tip and found a 13-year-old Kearns boy padlocked in what police described as a “makeshift cell.”
“When officers arrived on scene, they observed (the victim) in the hallway of the home, in an alcove looking like a closet under the stairs with gates affixed to the walls and locked with a padlock from the outside so (he) was unable to get out.”
The teen “had been locked in the makeshift cell for approximately 24 hours around the clock. After his stepmother, Melissa (Gray) had spanked (the boy’s) bare buttocks for screaming in the home. Melissa, the suspect, told (the boy), ‘Bare your bum, bare your bum’ prior to (his) being spanked.”
The victim “reported being hungry, lonely and having to sleep curled up in the makeshift cells.
“Prior to being locked up in the hallway, he was locked into a makeshift cell made out of his loft bed. (He) was locked under the loft bed for months and only let out when he would have to go to the bathroom.”
The victim told police that his older brother had been locked up, when he was younger, by their father, Travis Stacey Peterson.
Both Peterson, 49, and Gray, 41, were arrested Aug. 19 in the case and were ordered to be held without bail. As of Wednesday, Aug. 28, they were both inmates in the Salt Lake County jail system.
Both are being investigated for investigation of alleged aggravated child abuse, intentional or knowingly, a second-degree felony. Gray also is being investigated for alleged child abuse with injury, intentional or knowingly, a class A misdemeanor.
As in all cases, the county attorney’s office will determine charges if the cases go to trial.
Post Miranda, Peterson and Gray agreed to be interviewed by officers, their affidavits say.
“Both Melissa and Travis did not believe that anything was wrong with putting (the victim) in a cell and locking it from the outside. Melissa stated post Miranda, she wanted (the boy) to see what it was like in a city and the real world.
“While speaking to the father, Travis, he informed me he worked in health care and stated if he was arrested for child abuse he would lose his job,” arrest documents say. “I asked Travis to clarify and he stated the nation and world is cracking down on this sort of thing.
“It was reported to me that Travis did not believe anything was wrong with what they were doing to (his son), and stated (his son) would be returning into the cell if he returned to the Peterson residence.”
