SALT LAKE CITY — More charges were filed Tuesday against alleged vandals who police say contributed to causing more than $200,000 damage to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
On July 9, hours after District Attorney Sim Gill announced that two Salt Lake City police officers were justified in using deadly force against Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, a protest in front of Gill’s office, 35 E. 500 South, turned violent as members of the crowd broke five large windows and poured red paint over the entryway and in the street in front of the building, according to police.
Madison Tayt Alleman, 25, Michelle Claire Mower, 25, and Viviane Marie Turman, 23, all of Salt Lake City, were each charged in 3rd District Court on Tuesday with criminal mischief, a first-degree felony, and rioting, a third-degree felony.
They join Sofia Linda Alcala, 18, and Emmanuel Alan Hill, 21, both of Salt Lake City, who were previously charged with the same crimes.
According to charging documents, Alleman and Turman dumped 5 gallon containers of red paint “onto the driveway and splashed it onto the glass exterior of the building.” The women, along with Alcala, “then put paint on their own hands and used it to make handprints on the exterior windows, columns, concrete barrier and/or metal fences,” the charges state.
Mower helped paint the concrete barriers in front of the D.A.’s office, according to charging documents, and kicked an officer who had been deployed to stop the riot once it was declared to be an unlawful gathering.
According to an earlier police affidavit, approximately a dozen protesters used 32 gallons of red paint to vandalize the D.A.’s office and street.
Hill, who has been arrested at prior protests, was charged on July 10. He is scheduled to make an initial appearance in court on Oct. 29, according to court records.
Alcala was charged July 17 and is scheduled to make an initial appearance on Aug. 27, court records state.