Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Salesi Tuatonga, 33, faces multiple felony charges for two violent robberies.
- He is linked to a Taylorsville home invasion and a Salt Lake RV robbery.
- Charges include aggravated robbery, burglary and assault.
TAYLORSVILLE — A man accused of robbing the occupants of an RV in Salt Lake City in December has now been linked to a violent home invasion in Taylorsville the month before.
Salesi Tuatonga, 33, whose address is listed as unknown, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with five counts of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies; and aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, a second-degree felony.
On Nov. 1, Taylorsville police were called to a residence near 5000 South and 1250 West where "it was reported through dispatch that three masked men had broken into the residence" and that one occupant "had been badly assaulted with significant damage to his face," according to charging documents.
The three men, all of whom wore dark clothing and ski masks, forced their way into the residence and then "busted in through the exterior side door" into the victim's room, the charges state. "One of them had an AR-15 style rifle, and the other two had handguns. ... The intruders demanded that the residents gather all of the money, drugs, guns, watches and phones in the house for them."
One man was severely beaten, according to the investigators, incurring "significant facial fractures and swelling (and had) a significant amount of dried blood in his throat, making it hard to swallow," according to the charges.
A month later, on Dec. 11, two men with rifles entered an RV near 950 S. Gladiola Street and demanded money at gunpoint from the occupants. Tuatonga was identified as a suspect in that case after detectives traced the getaway vehicle to him, charging documents allege. Police then linked Tuatonga to the robbery in Taylorsville. He was charged in 3rd District Court in that case with three counts of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies; and two counts of being a restricted person in possession of a weapon, a second-degree felony.
In total, Tuatonga now faces eight counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and two counts of being a restricted person in possession of a weapon.
