PROVO — A 34-year-old woman accused of severely abusing her children was arrested last week while allegedly attempting to buy a home using bad checks.
Several police agencies were searching for Shelly Huynh when she was arrested Thursday.
In Utah County, Shelly Huynh is wanted for not appearing in court for a child-abuse trial. Shelly Huynh and her estranged husband, Chay Huynh, are accused in Provo's 4th District Court of physically and sexually abusing their sons. In Weber County, Shelly Huynh is wanted for allegedly trying to pass some $86,000 in bad checks to a Riverdale car dealership.
And Utah Adult Probation and Parole also wanted to talk to Shelly Huynh for allegedly violating terms of her probation. She was on probation for reportedly setting blaze to her house in attempt to collect insurance.
In last week's incident, Shelly Huynh and a male companion were picked up after posing as a Las Vegas couple trying to buy a $2 million home on Dimple Dell Road at about 10400 South.
According to a Salt Lake County sheriff's report, Shelly Huynh allegedly told the home's owner that she was about to receive a $25 million settlement from several lawsuits.
But when checks written to secure the purchase began to bounce, the home's owner became suspicious and called police.
The man also told deputies that Marsh and Shelly Huynh, who said her surname was Baker, told the man their vehicles had been impounded and that they did not have transportation.
The man "felt sorry for them" so he let them take one of his vehicles for the night.
In addition, he gave them $5,000, according to the report.
Shelly Huynh reportedly refused to give her name or social-security number when confronted by deputies. When identified, Huynh was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.
Peggy Faulkner, a spokeswoman for the Salt Lake sheriff's office, said Shelly Huynh has been placed on a 72-hour no-bail hold as the warrants are sorted out.
Officials say Shelly Huynh will likely face the check-fraud charges in Weber County before being transferred to Utah County to be tried for the pending child-abuse charges.
Both she and Chay Huynh are charged with with first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, three second-degree felony counts of physical child abuse, one count of first-degree sodomy and one third-degree felony count of child abuse.
According to court documents, Chay and Shelly Huynh, in addition to pulling teeth, allegedly shut the boys in the basement without food, water or access to a toilet for days at a time.
One boy alleged that, as punishment, his father would squeeze the boy's genitals with pliers. Both boys allege their father sexually abused them while their mother held them down.
Chay Huynh is scheduled to stand trial July 7.
A warrant for Shelly Huynh's arrest was issued in April after she failed to show up in Provo's 4th District Court for a scheduled conference.
Court records indicate that Shelly Huynh had claimed illness on several occasions to get out of appearing for court but later could not produce a valid doctor's note.
Bradley Rich, Huynh's former attorney, stopped representing her after Huynh allegedly used his law office's letterhead as part of the alleged check-fraud scheme in Weber County.
E-MAIL: gfattah@desnews.com