SALT LAKE CITY — A West Jordan man is facing multiple criminal charges after police say he choked his ex-girlfriend until she was unconscious, sexually assaulted her and then knocked out some of her front teeth.
David Anthony Mora, 26, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping, rape, child kidnapping and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; aggravated assault resulting in a loss of consciousness and aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, second-degree felonies; aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, third-degree felonies; child abuse, DUI, causing a catastrophe and failing to stop for police, class A misdemeanors; and causing an accident, a class B misdemeanor.
The investigation began on Dec. 21 when West Valley police responded to a crash. In the vehicle, they found Mora and a woman who was “visibly distressed and had multiple injuries to her body,” according to charging documents.
Detectives learned through further investigation that Mora went to the woman’s house on Dec. 19 “and told her he would kill her” and then sexually and physically assaulted her for about two hours, the charges state, resulting in “multiple injuries on her body … including bruising, abrasions and four broken teeth.” Police say Mora also choked the victim to unconsciousness.
On Dec. 21, Mora picked up the woman from work and took her to her home again. Believing that Mora had just hit her 3-year-old daughter, the woman confronted him and he “elbowed her in the face and ‘knocked out her front teeth,'” the charges state. “Mora held a steak knife to her neck and threatened to kill her.” When police talked to the woman, they noted she was missing her two front teeth.
The woman tried to get away by driving off. But as she began backing out of the driveway, Mora “jumped on the hood of the car. (The woman) said she continued driving with Mora on the hood of the car,” according to the charges.
When the car came to a stop, Mora forced his way into the vehicle and assaulted the woman again, including kicking and biting her, the charges allege.
“Mora then got in the driver’s seat and began driving aggressively at a high rate of speed. (The woman) said they drove through a neighborhood at a high rate of speed, swerved along the road and eventually crashed into the front of a home,” charging documents state. Mora got out of the vehicle and left the scene.
Police eventually spotted Mora walking nearby and took him into custody after he tried to run away.
“Violence between intimate partners is never the answer. For those who are in domestic violence relationships, I urge you to reach out for help. We have services in our community, like the Family Justice Center at the YWCA or South Valley Services, that are willing and ready to help get you out of dangerous relationships,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement.
In 2019, Mora was arrested for abusing a baby during an incident in which he told police he may have done it, but he was too drunk to remember. He pleaded guilty to three counts of child abuse. He was sentenced to a year in jail with credit for time served.
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