SANTA CLARA, Utah — A former Utah state employee who was fired after social media video showed her pulling down another woman's skirt to force her to cover up is headed to court.
Ida Ann Lorenzo, 49, was charged with one count of sexual battery following the April incident at a St. George restaurant. She is scheduled to make her first court appearance Wednesday.
According to court documents and video shared on TikTok, Lorenzo approached the other woman and tugged down on her skirt because she felt it was too revealing. She told police that the unidentified woman entered the restaurant "wearing explicit clothing that was exposing her entire vagina."
Lorenzo claimed a 10-year-old boy had pointed to the woman's skirt and that his father "did not do anything about it."
"Ida felt that it was her responsibility to address the female by approaching her, and attempted to pull down the female's skirt to cover what Ida explained to be exposed genitalia," the police report states.
Hours after the incident, Lorenzo called an emergency 911 line to tell dispatchers that the group with the other woman had shared video of the confrontation, and since she "holds a position with the state," that her life felt threatened.
In the video, Lorenzo could be heard saying that she worked for the state and that she would call child protective services.
During a police interview, Lorenzo claimed she had not actually touched the woman, only her skirt. She said that she did not call police because of the likely delay for them to respond.
"I explained to Ida that she had still engaged in criminal behavior by touching the female's clothing, and that her behavior was not appropriate," the officer wrote in their report.
The woman whose skirt was touched by Lorenzo later contacted police to report an assault. The unidentified woman said she felt violated by the encounter.
After an investigation in which video footage was obtained, police arrested Lorenzo and booked her in jail.
Days following the incident, Utah News Dispatch reports Lorenzo was terminated from her position as a legal secretary with the Utah Attorney General's Office
