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VERNAL — A second employee at an eastern Utah care facility was charged Wednesday with beating a resident with special needs.
Kayla Jeanine Evans, 33, of Vernal, was charged in 8th District Court with aggravated abuse of a disabled adult, a second-degree felony; and abuse of a vulnerable adult, a class A misdemeanor. Her charges come a day after Ashia Wyasket, 23, was charged Tuesday with aggravated abuse of a disabled adult, a second-degree felony.
On Sept. 6, Uintah County sheriff's deputies were called to 880 N. 1500 East, a residence run by North Eastern Service that helps residents with mental health and other disabilities. Investigators say Evans and Wyasket are managers at the home. Deputies found a nonverbal man who lives at the facility who "had been crying and had blood on his face," according to charging documents.
When the man was asked who hit him, he allegedly pointed to Evans, whose arm was in a sling. Deputies learned Wyasket and Evans had gone into the man's room and taken a wooden dowel being used to lock a sliding door, the charges state.
"(Wyasket) and the other employee were then heard hitting the (man) with the wooden dowel. Officers observed blood on the wall and floor from the injuries caused by being hit in the head and the face with the wooden dowel," the charges allege. "(Wyasket) admitted to hitting the individual with the dowel … and said that they hit him about 10 times."
During the investigation, deputies "also learned that on or around Aug. 11, (Evans) was hitting the same individual in the head with her hand, and it broke her hand," her charging documents state.
The injured man, whose age was not reported, "is nonverbal, but can still communicate either using sign language or pointing at what he needs," a police booking affidavit states. Deputies also reported observing multiple bruises on the man's face, a scratch mark on his neck, a bruise in the center of his chest and fresh welt marks on his side.
