Mormon TikTok star Taylor Frankie Paul was arrested on February 17 for assault, criminal mischief, and domestic violence in the presence of a child.
Taylor is the most famous mom on “Mormon MomTok” or “Utah MomTok” — a group of female Mormon friends who post dance videos about their lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mother-of-two Taylor blew up the MomTok community last year when she revealed her “soft swinging” lifestyle to her four million followers.
@taylorfrankiepaul In order: me @victoria.zalic @camille_munday @laylawessel @miranda__mcw @maycineeley @whitleavitt ♬ SexyBack (feat. Timbaland) – Justin Timberlake
Context
- MomTok star Taylor was previously married to Tate Paul. She has a five-year-old daughter, Indy, and a two-year-old son Ocean with Tate.
- In a TikTok video in May 2022, Taylor announced that she was divorcing Tate and revealed that the couple had been part of “a soft swinging” group with their friends.
- Soft swinging is a practice where partners are swapped but only with the understanding that they do not have full sex.
- Taylor admitted breaking the rule of soft swinging and having sex with her friend’s husband. The incident led to the breakdown of her marriage to Tate.
- In July 2022, Taylor introduced her new boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, to her TikTok followers. Taylor and Dakota suffered an ectopic pregnancy and briefly split in December. But they rekindled their relationship on January 14.
The Arrest
- Taylor was arrested at Salt Lake County Jail around 01:56 on February 17 and released at 10:35 on three misdemeanor charges.
- According to the Daily Mail, Dakota says Taylor had been at a Galentine’s Party with her friends the night before. He picked her up and drove her back to her house in Herriman, Utah.
- According to Herriman City Police, a neighbor called 911 after they heard yelling and screaming coming from inside Taylor’s home.
- According to a probable cause statement, Taylor and Dakota were having an argument. When Dakota tried to leave the house, Taylor started hitting him with “heavy metal chairs.”
- The statement claims that one of these chairs hit her 5-year-old daughter, who was lying on the couch in the same room. The child developed a painful bump on her head and investigators are reviewing a further charge of “reckless child abuse” against Taylor.
- In video evidence that has not yet been made public by the police, Taylor is allegedly seen putting Dakota in a chokehold and hitting him multiple times.
- Mortensen says Paul also threw her phone and a wooden playset at him, and that the playset hit and damaged his car.
- Dakota says Taylor “never hurt anyone intentionally” and reveals that he is “not even allowed to speak with her” following the incident.
What’s next?: Taylor is yet to speak on the incident. TikTok users believe that she will address her arrest on TikTok like every other scandal in her life.
Update 03/01/2023 by Pesala Bandara: Information on probable cause statement and police video evidence of the altercation added.
