KSL News Utah reporter Garna Mejia says three family members in Moab are now facing some of the most serious accusations Utah can bring in a child abuse case: child torture charges under a newly enacted statute.
Mejia explains that the law was designed for crimes that rise “well above child abuse,” and she notes the threshold is so severe that it comes with a 10-year minimum prison sentence if someone is convicted.
In this case, Mejia reports Moab police say the abuse was so extreme – and so prolonged – that it fits the “exceptionally cruel and depraved” standard the new law was meant to address.
The suspects, Mejia says, are the boy’s stepmother Jennifer Perkins, 48, his father Jeremiah Perkins, 39, and his stepbrother Jonathan Jarman, 28.
Mejia’s report makes one thing plain right away: authorities are treating this as one of the first major tests of Utah’s child torture statute, and they believe the facts justify it.
How School Staff First Raised The Alarm
Mejia says the first warnings didn’t come from a random tip or a traffic stop. They came from people who see kids every day: school staff.
Moab Police Chief Lex Bell, speaking in Mejia’s report, says the case “first came to our attention” in mid-October, after concerns were raised at Helen M. Knight Elementary School.
Bell tells Mejia the child had been pulled from school at the beginning of October, with the family claiming they planned to homeschool.
But Bell says the key detail is what didn’t happen next: the homeschooling paperwork was never submitted, which raised concerns about educational neglect.
Mejia also reports there were earlier red flags tied to the boy’s daily life at school. Investigators learned the child had been wearing T-shirts with what Mejia describes as a “non-favorable depiction” of his mother printed on them, a detail authorities treated as part of broader concerns about psychological harm.
In a lot of cases, when a child disappears from the classroom, the story ends there. Mejia’s reporting shows this district didn’t let it end.
She says the concern stayed active even after the boy was no longer attending, and that persistence matters because it helped put eyes back on a child who may not have had any other safe, regular contact with adults outside his home.
Police Say The Abuse Included Starvation And Confinement
Mejia reports that after an initial DCFS visit, new information emerged about two weeks later that changed everything.
Chief Bell tells Mejia that DCFS gained information suggesting the father had detained the child in a dog kennel, which became a turning point that helped authorities remove the boy and begin a criminal investigation.
Mejia reports police say the boy was found in a condition that was hard to misread: he was “way undersized,” “very thin,” and even “skeletal,” with doctors later determining he was severely malnourished.
Bell tells Mejia the boy had lost 13% of his body weight, and Mejia frames that as one of the clearest indicators that the problem wasn’t a brief lapse in care—it was something ongoing.
Mejia also reports what investigators say the child was being fed: only vegetables and rice.
And in one of the most disturbing details, Mejia says police learned the boy began eating things that weren’t food – items like Tums, Dayquil, and toothpaste – to the point it made him sick.
According to Mejia, authorities say Jennifer Perkins worked at a hospital, but still didn’t seek medical attention after the boy got ill. Mejia reports detectives say Jennifer Perkins explained she didn’t want anyone to “get in trouble.”
Mejia also describes other alleged punishments investigators say were used against the child. She reports the boy was allegedly hog-tied and placed on a cold vent, and that confinement in a kennel was part of what authorities now say was a pattern of treating the child like something less than human.
It’s hard to read any of that without feeling anger. And it’s also hard not to think about how quickly “homeschooling” can become a perfect hiding place for abuse when no one is checking whether learning is happening – or whether the child is even safe.
Why Prosecutors Wanted A Child Torture Statute
Mejia brings in Eric Clarke, the former Washington County Attorney who prosecuted the child abuse case involving Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt, and who helped advocate for the new Utah law.
Clarke tells Mejia the law exists because some cases don’t fit neatly into older categories that focused mostly on visible injuries.
He explains that past law didn’t clearly spell out what psychological abuse looked like, and didn’t really address things like solitary confinement and other extreme punishments that have shown up in recent years.
In Mejia’s report, Clarke describes the Moab allegations in blunt language: “Treating a kid like an animal… putting him in an animal’s pen… withholding food as punishment.” He calls those things “awful,” and says this is exactly the kind of conduct the statute was designed to confront.
Clarke also tells Mejia he wishes that statute had existed earlier, when he prosecuted the Franke/Hildebrandt case.
That’s a rare thing in criminal justice – someone openly saying, “We didn’t have the right tool for the worst cases.” But Mejia’s reporting shows Utah lawmakers and prosecutors tried to build that tool anyway, even if it arrived too late for other children.
And now, in this case, it’s being used the way it was intended: to treat extreme cruelty as its own category, not just a harsher version of ordinary abuse.
“We Got That Child Out”: What Happens Next
Mejia reports Chief Bell says the most important outcome so far is simple: the child was removed from the home quickly.
Bell tells Mejia that once the child was safe, investigators could slow down and be meticulous, building a case they believe meets every element of the new torture statute.
Mejia says all three suspects are being held without bail.
She also reports the school district’s leadership wanted the public to understand something important: just because the boy was removed from school didn’t mean people stopped paying attention.
Mejia says Grand County School District Superintendent Matthew Keyes told her that the district did not stop caring about the situation and that district employees acted as mandatory reporters when they saw cause for concern.
That piece matters because it’s easy for the public to blame “the system” in a case like this. Mejia’s report suggests the system worked the way it’s supposed to work—at least at the first step – because people noticed, reported, and kept pushing until someone could intervene.
Mejia also notes the boy’s condition is improving now that he is out of that environment. That is the closest thing to a bright spot in a story like this, even though “better now” can’t erase what happened before.
And here’s the grim truth that hangs over everything Mejia reports: when adults allegedly go to lengths like this – starvation, confinement, humiliation – it isn’t a parenting mistake. It’s control. It’s cruelty. It’s the kind of cruelty the law now names directly.
If there’s any wider lesson in Mejia’s reporting, it’s this: pulling a child from school shouldn’t make them invisible. Homeschooling can be real and loving and successful, but when it’s used as a cover, the danger is that the outside world loses its view of the child.
In this case, Mejia shows that view wasn’t lost forever. And now Utah’s newest, harshest child protection law is being used to try to hold people accountable for what police describe as torture.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
