A now-fired Utah state employee who made headlines after he became enraged and pulled down a teenage girl’s miniskirt in a crowded steakhouse has reportedly accepted a plea deal.
Ida Ann Lorenzo, 49, pleaded “not guilty” to one misdemeanor count of sexual assault. KTVX reported.
According to court documents, Lorenzo admitted to “intentionally touching another person’s buttocks under circumstances that he knew would cause offense or anxiety to that person.”
Under the agreement, Lorenzo’s arraignment will be deferred for one year and the case against her will be dismissed because she has not violated any laws, completed a mental health evaluation and has had no contact with the victim.
On April 20, a video of Lorenzo tugging on the skirt of a 19-year-old girl in the lobby of Sakura Japanese Steakhouse went viral, garnering more than 1 million views on TikTok.
The 49-year-old was hired as a legal secretary for the Utah Attorney General’s Office on March 4 but was fired from her job on April 25, the same day she was served with the criminal charges stemming from the steakhouse incident.
After the altercation went viral and sparked online backlash, Lorenzo called police and said he “feared for his life” after a girl accused him of sexually harassing her at a St. George restaurant.
In body camera footage taken at a local police station on April 22, Lorenzo claims to have seen the girl’s “full vagina and buttock flesh” and admitted to pulling on her skirt, but said his hands never touched the girl’s skin.
The officer who spoke to her told her that it was not “her job” to take matters into her own hands and that she should have called the police.
Police said the girl, whose skirt Lorenzo allegedly pulled down, also contacted police to report she had been “sexually assaulted in the lobby” of the restaurant.
Other witnesses also filed police reports about the incident at the steakhouse.
Lorenzo was arrested on April 24. The victim told police that Lorenzo’s “cold hands” [her] skin.”
Lorenzo was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane and released on bond.
