A woman employed at The Falcon Ridge Ranch Academy, a residential treatment center for teenage girls, has been charged with multiple counts of sexual battery and dealing harmful material to a minor.
Guyla Reann Savage, 32, was arrested on Wednesday and charged Thursday after the facility reported that a staff member had shown students pornography.
Charging documents from Washington County say that four students under the age of 18 said they saw explicit photos of Savage’s husband on her phone while Savage was holding it. When they commented on the photo, Savage offered to show it to them.
[Read more: Explore the inspections and critical incident reports involving Utah’s troubled-teen treatment centers in this new database.]
Savage also allegedly hit the same four students on their backsides using her hand, a book or a foot. Some of them said they were involved in “horseplay” when it happened, while others said she would just walk into a room without context and slap them on the buttocks. They all said they believed it was “weird” for a staff member to slap them on the buttocks.
Sexual abuse of students has been a problem at multiple “troubled-teen” facilities in the state.