Magna couple charged with 29 counts of child abuse
Aug 29, 2024, 11:41 AM
A man in Magna is charged with abusing a woman's three young children over years and police say the mother did not report the incidents to police or seek medical help. (Barbra Ford, Shutterstock)
(Barbra Ford, Shutterstock)
MAGNA, Utah — A Magna couple is facing more than two dozen charges of child abuse after police say the man punched, kicked and choked the woman’s three boys and made them do push-ups as a form of punishment, while the mother did nothing.
Kristopher Riley North, 34, and Sarah Louise Sorensen, 27, were each charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with 21 counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony; and eight counts of child abuse, a class A misdemeanor.
The investigation began Aug. 21 when Unified police responded to the couple’s home on a child abuse investigation. Sorensen told officers that she, North and her three children have lived together since 2018.
On that day, North became angry with Sorensen’s 6-year-old son for using the door handle to get out of North’s truck, according to charging documents. North told the boy to go upstairs and “get in a push-up position.”
“North then made (the boy) do push-ups. North told (the boy) he was not doing the push-ups correctly and kicked (him) twice,” the charges allege.
Police say North would also “kick, slap, or spank” the boy if he did not answer him using the word “sir.”
“Sorensen stated (the boy) missed a ‘yes, sir’ and North slapped him with an open hand ‘over and over,'” according to the charges.
The woman also reported North slapped her 9-year-old son multiple times the day before and grabbed him by the throat with both hands and “pushed up.”
