- Isaiah Vaughn Pulu, 25, was charged Friday with three counts of murder.
- Three disabled men died after being left in a running van for 4.5 hours, charges say.
- Pulu, a caregiver, was inside his house eating and watching TV, according to prosecutors.
WEST VALLEY CITY — A caregiver who was supposed to safely transport three disabled men was charged Friday with three counts of murder after the men died after being left alone for hours inside a van that was left running inside a garage.
Prosecutors say he left the men for 4 1/2 hours while he ate inside his house and watched anime.
Isaiah Vaughn Pulu, 25, of West Valley City, is charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, for each of the deaths of Colton Warren Moser, 25, Mosa'ati Moa, 22, and 39-year-old Tim Jones. All three were residents at different group homes in West Valley City, according to police.
"In this case, the defendant was employed with a company that was contracted by the state of Utah as a daytime caregiver. The defendant's responsibilities were to pick up clients, take them on an outing and return them to the main office so they could be returned to their group homes," according to charging documents.
Prosecutors say the three victims "were in custody of the state of Utah who had contracted with Safe & Sound. Two of the victims were nonverbal and all three victims were dependent on caretakers for their daily needs," the charges state. All three were in a "day program," in which "they are picked up by a caregiver who watches them for part of the day. Pulu was assigned as their caregiver on this day."
On Feb. 6, Pulu picked up the three men and "was supposed to be on an outing ... at a community location, the park or the mall, and should have returned them to the program facility by 1:30 p.m.," according to the court documents.
But Pulu told investigators that one of the victims was being "rowdy" so he decided to drive "around for about 30-45 minutes before deciding to go home. Pulu said he was trained to use isolation as de-escalation, so Pulu took them to his home and parked the van in his garage around 10 a.m.," the charges say. "Pulu stated that he left the van running, the heater or AC on, the windows down and left the garage door open."
"I just wanted to get some food and watch my show," he told police, according to the charges.
Investigators, however, found doorbell camera videos that showed Pulu entering his apartment shortly after 9 a.m. He says when he went back to the garage about 1:30 p.m. — or 4 1/2 hours later — he found the garage door closed and all three men unconscious.
"He called his mother in a panic, then received a call from his work and then placed the 911 call," the charges state. "When asked about leaving clients alone after picking them up from the group homes, Pulu stated that he's allowed to put them in isolation by themselves, but they are supposed to be in the vicinity."
"I just thought it was going to be another day," he allegedly said when asked about whether he was concerned about leaving there three victims alone, since one had a history of attacking people.
"Pulu then stated that he's trying to gain weight, that he needed to eat and wanted to watch his anime. Pulu stated that he has taken clients to his home before and has left them in the van before," according to the charges.
Investigators confirmed that on Jan. 6, Pulu "was reprimanded for client abandonment because he had left three clients unsupervised for 30 minutes while they were waiting for their transport," the charging documents say.
West Valley firefighters also responded to the scene and found "CO2 alarms were going off in the apartments located above the garage" and had to evacuate the entire complex.
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office concluded that the "the cause of death would most likely be CO poisoning, but that would have to be confirmed with toxicology. At this time toxicology results are pending," according to the court documents.
Pulu was originally arrested for investigation of three counts of manslaughter. But Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the first-degree felony charges were filed because Pulu showed a "depraved indifference to human life."
"There are three individuals, who are disabled individuals, who need oversight who need care from folks, (and) they are left unattended with the vehicle running and extended period of time. There's also been a warning that he had earlier that said that he cannot leave people unattended, which he was aware of," Gill said during a press conference on Friday to announce the charges.
While Gill could not say whether additional charges will be filed, he said Friday that as prosecutors continue to go over the case, appropriate charges will be filed if needed.
The murder charges were filed on the same day that Wendy Rollins, mother of Colton Moser, says her son's body was cremated.
"As a family, we are still trying to navigate between our devastating sadness of Colton's life being very purposefully taken and trying to process how much we miss him," Rollins said. "We are extremely thankful for the very thoughtful communication from the (district attorney) as well as the detectives through West Valley City police that have put endless time and consideration into these charges and with their communication with the families.
"Because I can't bring Colton back and believe with all my heart he is in a better place, there will definitely be a time coming up soon that the one thing that I can do for him now is to advocate for justice to be served with this individual that made a choice that didn't have to be made, that could've been prevented," Rollins said. "These three individuals dealt with suffering and fear that ultimately cost them their lives because of him. They had no voice during this ordeal and definitely have no voice now, but as families we can be their voice and as a community, we can step up and make sure that this doesn't happen again and that programs make improvements in prevention and management as well."
Contributing: Daniel Woodruff
