ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — Police body camera footage obtained by NewsNation affiliate KTVX shows a Utah woman’s arrest days after she yanked on a teenager’s skirt in a St. George restaurant, the aftermath of which went viral in a video posted to TikTok.
Ida Ann Lorenzo, 48, of Santa Clara, was charged in 5th District Court with a single count of sexual battery, a Class A misdemeanor, in connection to the skirt-pulling incident that happened April 20 in the lobby of Sakura Japanese Steakhouse.
In a TikTok video that’s now garnered more than 12 million views, Lorenzo can be seen reprimanding a teenager inside the restaurant, telling her that if she sees the teen’s “a** cheeks hanging out again,” she’ll call Child Protective Services. She also identified herself as a state employee.
The viral video posted by one of the teen’s friends described Lorenzo as a “Karen,” a slang term for an entitled middle-aged woman. She was the first person to contact St. George police, calling them several times and talking for hours with an investigator about what happened.
‘Everyone behind me applauded’
In the body camera footage, Lorenzo said that she was sitting in the lobby and others in the packed room could see the teenager’s “entire [vagina] and butt cheeks,” because her skirt was so short. She said a young boy, roughly 10 years old, even pointed to the teenager’s exposed body.
Lorenzo told the investigator that she initially approached the teen to tell her what others could see. But when the teen blew her off, that’s when Lorenzo said she walked up behind the teen and yanked her skirt down, noting she didn’t touch any skin. She claimed she had to take action because children were present.
“Everyone behind me applauded,” Lorenzo told the officer in one of the phone calls. She added that if she had called police and waited for an officer to respond, it’d have been too late.
But after the video of her interaction with the teenager began to go viral, Lorenzo called police again with concerns that she was being accused of sexual harassments. She told the investigator she was receiving online messages she deemed to be threatening. One of the messages she read out to police.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” she said, reading from the message. “I can’t wait to see the update that you have been fired from your job with the state. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Keep your hands and your opinion to yourself and next time maybe learn to be a better human.”
ABC4 reached out to Utah agencies to see if Lorenzo is indeed employed by the state. So far, the station has received no reply or confirmation of Lorenzo’s employment, although she told police several times in the body camera footage that she is a state employee.
The teenager’s perspective
The body camera footage also shows a police investigator speaking with the teenage victim. She told the officer she was waiting in the restaurant’s lobby when Lorenzo came up behind her and yanked her skirt, pulling it downward.
The teenager, who is a legal adult, told the officer she could feel “someone’s cold hands against my skin.” The teen initially thought it was one of her friends making a joke, so she was shocked to see Lorenzo behind her. Others who filled out witness statements shared a similar story with the investigator.
The teenager said that the incident made her feel violated and insecure about her body.
Contrary to Lorenzo’s account, the teenager told the investigator that Lorenzo didn’t talk to her first before pulling on her skirt. The teenager’s friends who were at the restaurant that night shared a similar story with police, adding that the restaurant’s manager had to separate Lorenzo from the group of teenagers.
The victim also provided police with a video of her wearing the skirt in question. She told the investigator that she was wearing underwear that night, making it unlikely that her genitalia was exposed at any time.
In Lorenzo’s multiple interactions with the St. George investigator, he repeatedly explained that what Lorenzo did was potentially criminal, even if she only touched the clothing around the teenager’s private parts.
“There was no incident. You created it,” the investigator told her at one point. “The consequences of your actions have been all of this.”
In the body camera footage, Lorenzo appeared shocked when the officer told her that she was being taken into custody. “You are going to arrest me?” she said.
Lorenzo was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane and released after posting bail. Her next court appearance is slated for June.