Employees of group home where 16-year-old escaped and was killed by police charged by Utah AG

SANDY, Utah (ABC4) — In November 2023, a 16-year-old with a disability was shot and killed by Sandy City Police officers after stealing a vehicle and striking a motorcyclist. Documents and search warrants revealed that his escape from a group home was not due to an accident, but rather alleged neglect by his caretakers.

Hanan Obied, 25, has been charged with two felony counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, four felony counts of tampering with a witness, one misdemeanor count of tampering with evidence, and one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice.

Several other employees have been charged, although all face fewer charges than Obied.

• Muhamed Dahir, 29, charged with two felony counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, one felony count of tampering with a witness.
• Mele Pauni, 54, charged with one felony count of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, one felony count of tampering with a witness, misdemeanor tampering with evidence, and misdemeanor obstruction of justice.
• Nadira Yassin, 52, charged with two felony counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability.
• Kauta Bloomfield, 50, charged with felony abuse or neglect of a child with a disability.
• Lusinita Makalio, 57, charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice.

According to an indictment filed by attorneys for the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Obied was a director for Future Rising Agency, LLC. The 16-year-old was placed in the custody and care of the agency and moved to the group home managed by Obied. He had previously escaped a different group home on Oct. 31, 2023. Documents say that Obied failed to put safety measures in place to prevent him from leaving.

A search warrant from the Sandy City Police Department that was unsealed earlier this year revealed that the 16-year-old’s Person Centered Support Plan (PCSP) from the Utah Division of Services for People with Disabilities had “a number of security/safety recommendations for Future Rising to follow, which included having ‘locks and alarms on all doors and windows’ and being supervised ’24/7.'”

The 16-year-old had a history of eloping, according to police, and a juvenile-court judge had ordered these safety measures to be put in place at the home. Documents say that Obied “made assurances to the judge that additional safety measures would be put in place prior to Future Rising taking custody.”

A walkthrough by the minor’s support coordinator revealed that the residence in Bluffdale did not have alarms or locks installed on Nov. 8, 2023, the day he moved in. The support coordinator told police that she was told alarms and locks would be installed the following day. She reminded the caretakers that he needed to be watched closely until those locks and alarms were installed.

According to police, in the early morning hours of the following day, Nov. 9, 2023, the 16-year-old eloped from the house. He would steal a vehicle in Bluffdale and then go on to steal a minivan from an army recruitment office in Sandy. Police responded and found the first stolen crashed in Sandy around 6:17 a.m.

The 16-year-old would then be located by police in the stolen minivan around 12:24 p.m. and strike a motorcyclist while fleeing from Sandy officers. Police fired at the 16-year-old, and he received a gunshot wound that would lead to his death. The search warrant from Sandy police states that he was declared dead at 1:42 p.m. at the hospital.

According to Sandy officers, the 16-year-old was not noticed to be missing until 11 a.m. on Nov. 9. A staff member, Makalio, arrived and noticed he was not there. When she reported it to her directors, Obied and Dahir, they told her not to tell anyone until they had investigated what happened. Around 5 p.m., Makalio was told to call the Bluffdale Police Department and tell them he had run away from the West Jordan Library around 2 p.m.

According to charging documents, the 16-year-old’s PCSP stated that if he were to elope, the police should immediately be contacted. Obied and Dahir did not contact the police when she found out he was missing, and instead allegedly lied to the teen’s support coordinator and parents about his location, saying he was last seen at the library at 2 p.m. She also lied to them that she had already notified the police.

After the 16-year-old’s parents were notified of his death, Obied continued to tell them that he had run away from the library and she had notified police.

Extensive communication between the six employees of Future Rising Agency, shared in documents, reveals that they worked together to cover up the truth of how the 16-year-old escaped the home. In an “impromptu” meeting at 1 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2023, Obied and the other employees who are charged met and decided to delete all messages and communications they had regarding the 16-year-old’s escape from the group home.

Makalio, the employee who had discovered the 16-year-old was missing and contacted the directors, deleted her messages during this meeting. However, she had screenshots of the evidence and shared them with her son. She would later share these messages with the support coordinator’s business partner.