A Utah woman who went viral and was nicknamed “Karen” after she allegedly pulled down a young woman’s skirt that she thought was too short and revealing in public has reached a plea deal on a misdemeanor sexual assault charge.
Ida Lorenzo, 49, confronted a young woman on April 20 at a restaurant in St. George, Utah, in a fight that was partially caught on camera.
Node videoposted on April 21, she appears to brag about working for the state while berating the young woman about her skirt.
“I happen to work for the state and if I have to see your buttocks showing again, I will call CPS,” Lorenzo said in the clip, referring to Utah Child Protective Services.
The video was filmed by a woman in the group and was captioned: “Karen gets upset because my friend is wearing a miniskirt, so she aggressively grabs it, pulls it down and says ‘you’re probably underage, you probably shouldn’t be wearing it. This ’causes a scene in a busy restaurant.
In the clip, the young woman in the skirt is not visible.
Lorenzo is seen talking to a group of girls who defend their friend saying: “She is over 18. She’s 19” and “You can’t touch her,” and asks her to call the police.
Lorenzo ended up calling St. George Police on April 21, the day after the incident, after seeing the video on social media. She called the center saying that she holds a state position and that the video caused a threat to her life, according to the probable cause statement.
She told police she confronted a young woman at a restaurant who was wearing “explicit clothing” that exposed her private parts in the presence of children. Lorenzo told authorities he felt it was her responsibility to address the woman and tried to pull the woman’s skirt down to cover her “exposed genitalia,” the affidavit said.
A police officer asked why Lorenzo, who assumed the young woman was underage, would feel it was appropriate to touch her. She responded by saying that she never touched the woman, only her skirt. She told police that the woman and her friends filmed part of the incident and posted it on social media with the slogan of being a “Karen,” the affidavit said.
On April 22, the woman who was allegedly wearing the short skirt came forward to police saying she was sexually assaulted in the lobby of a restaurant on April 20.
She said Lorenzo confronted her while her back was turned and without any warning, “she felt cold hands move up her skirt, touching her buttocks before she felt the skirt being pulled up.” The victim stated that “she was frightened by the encounter and felt violated,” the probate affidavit said.
The victim and seven other witnesses came forward and filled out statements. The victim said she wore panties and shorts under her skirt, making it impossible to expose her.
Lorenzo was charged with sexual assault as a class A misdemeanor.
However, that charge was reduced to a class B misdemeanor in a plea deal filed Aug. 7, according to Washington County court records.
She filed a motion for suspension, no contest. Under this agreement, there will be no sentence imposed for one year as long as she complies with the terms – she is not allowed to commit any crimes, cannot contact the victim and must undergo a mental health evaluation.
Susanne Gustin, Lorenzo’s attorney, said Tuesday that Lorenzo declined to comment on the plea agreement.
The same day she was charged, Lorenzo received a termination letter from the Utah Attorney General’s Office, where she worked as a legal secretary for less than two months, Utah News Dispatch reported. The termination letter cited that she “had not successfully passed the probationary period” and cited “her failure to comply with policies and standards related to performance,” the newspaper reported.
The Utah AG’s office told NBC News in a brief statement Tuesday: “We are aware of the situation and following AGO policies and procedures.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
