Ida Ann Lorezno, age 48, was at Sakura Japanese Steakhouse in St. George when she saw a group of teenage girls sitting near her at the restaurant. In a video on social media, Lorezno can be seen speaking with the girls. She accused one of the girls of dressing inappropriately because her skirt was too short. Lorezno can be heard in the video stating “I happen to work for the state “and if I have to watch your ass cheeks hanging out again, I will call CPS.” The group challenged her to do so, stating that the girl was 19 years old and was not a minor.
Lorezno called the police a couple hours later and reported that the girl’s skirt was hiked up above her genitals while in the view of several minors. During the call, Lorezno reported that she had pulled the teen’s skirt down and told her to be aware of what she was showing. Police officers met Lorezno the next day.
Lorezno again repeated that she felt it was “her responsibility” to approach the teen. She had threatened to call CPS because Lorezno felt the teen had indecently exposed herself to the boy. Lorezno claims there was a young boy pointing at the teen’s skirt, though the boy’s father “did nothing about it.” Lorezno is not related to the boy or his father.
The young woman reported to investigators that Lorezno had sexually assaulted her by putting her hands up her skirt and groped her. She provided police with a separate video of herself in the skirt she wore that night. Other witnesses came forward and corroborated the 19 year-old’s version of events.
Lorezno was arrested and charged with sexual battery. She was released on bail after paying $1,000.
Lorezno claims she is an employee of the Utah Attorney General’s Office. However, her name was not found in a Utah State Bar directory nor has the Utah Attorney General’s Office made any statement.
Sexual battery is a Class A Misdemeanor in Utah. It is defined as an intentional touching “whether or not through clothing, the anus, buttocks, or any part of the genitals of another person, or the breast of a female person, and the actor’s conduct is under circumstances the actor knows or should know will likely cause affront or alarm to the person touched.”
Although Lorezno claims to be an employee of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, it is pretty clear from her statements that she doesn’t understand the law very well. It is criminal behavior to touch another person’s clothing without their consent, even if the defendant did not actually touch their body. Moreover, Lorezno’s belief that the teen was still a minor only made it more egregious, since Lorezno’s belief meant that she was committing a sexual assault and/or battery on a minor. This is true even if the teen was in fact over eighteen.
State Officials Have No Authority to Touch Others
Even if Lorezno is an employee of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, that did not give her any authority to touch the young woman or anyone else. The Constitution prohibits the government from conducting unreasonable search and seizures. If anyone from the Attorney General’s Office were to pull down someone’s clothing in public, the Attorney General’s Office would be committing an illegal search. Lorezno’s actions, if she were a state employee, could potentially open up the State of Utah to some kind of lawsuit, pending an investigation into whether the Attorney General’s Office instructs its employees to pull people’s clothing down.
If Lorezno is not an employee of the Attorney General’s Office as she claims she is, she could also be charged with impersonating a public servant. Most states, including Utah, make it illegal to impersonate a public official with intent to deceive another.
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