Man accused of shaving girl's head, beating children

A West Valley City man is accused of shaving the head of his girlfriend's daughter, beating the girlfriend and her three children with a wooden stick, and threatening to kill them.

In charges filed Tuesday, police wrote that the girlfriend came home Aug. 3 to find her 3-year-old daughter's head shaved. When she asked her boyfriend about it, he began hitting her with a wooden board, police wrote.

The woman tried to leave, but the 25-year-old man grabbed her hair, pulled her into the bedroom and began choking her, police wrote. He then began hitting two of the children with the board, police wrote. The next day, he hit the third child, leaving bruises to her legs and buttocks, police wrote.

For three days, the man threatened to kill the woman and her children if they left their house, near 3900 West Rockwood Way (3390 South), investigators wrote.

The man was charged with first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping, second-degree felony aggravated assault, three third-degree felony counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, four misdemeanor counts of child abuse and one misdemeanor count of assault.

The man has not been arrested. The girlfriend told police the she thought he had fled to Mexico.

ealberty@sltrib.com

Twitter: @erinalberty