Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- A Holladay babysitter has been charged with aggravated child abuse of a toddler and evidence tampering.
- Her mother and a friend who was a DCFS employee are charged with interfering with the police investigation.
- The former caseworker is also charged with illegally releasing information to them from the DCFS database.
HOLLADAY — A Holladay woman has been charged with abusing a young boy she was supposed to be babysitting, while her mother and a former employee with the Division of Child and Family Services are also facing criminal charges accusing them of interfering with the police investigation.
Erika Bos, 31, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony; and evidence tampering, a class A misdemeanor. Her mother, Lindsay Erika Bos, 48, was charged Thursday with obstruction, a class C misdemeanor.
And Kaitlyn Marcella Murphy, 24, of Salt Lake City — who worked for DCFS at the time but no longer works there — was charged Thursday with witness tampering and three counts of releasing information from a state electronic verification system, third-degree felonies.
The investigation began in June when a man picked up his 15-month-old son from the babysitter, Erika Bos.
"When (the boy) was picked up, he was found to have scratches and bruises all over his body, including his buttocks, forehead, cheeks, neck, back and legs. (He) appeared to be lethargic and his eyes were swollen from crying," according to charging documents.
Doctors at Primary Children's Hospital determined the toddler had multiple abrasions and bruises and said the "pattern of injury" was "concerning."
"The location of these bruises are highly concerning given that they are not common locations for accidental trauma," the hospital also noted, according to the charges. "The lesion on the back of his neck is also concerning for inflicted injury."
As part of the investigation, police searched Erika Bos' phone and found a text message she sent to her mother stating, "Hey can you please call your lawyer guy and ask how I should answer the questions from the detective when I can't remember half of what went on yesterday!" the charging documents state.
Erika Bos indicated that a friend who worked for DCFS, Murphy, was looking into the case that had been opened against her. Detectives then found text messages from Murphy telling Erika Bos, "'His parents are being shady anyway. I can come over after and tell you about that,' and 'I wouldn't worry about it too much because she has literally no evidence for what happened to him or where he got the marks from,'" the charges allege.
Other text messages between Erika Bos and her mother indicate that Murphy reported to her "what the ongoing DCFS caseworker was being told about the case and attempted to influence the outcome of the DCFS investigation including, 'I expressed to my friend that you would NEVER hurt a child and she said that she doesn't even have anything,'" according to the charges.
"Murphy was found to have accessed the case on numerous occasions based on the case access log that DCFS keeps for their employees," the charges state.
The Division of Child and Family Services confirmed Thursday that Murphy used to work for them but said her last day was Aug. 7. No reason was given about why she no longer is employed with them.
