Thursday, May 24, 2012

Utah man: Roommates tortured me with power tool, knives

By Elizabeth Chuck, msnbc.com

A Magna, Utah, man says he suffered a weekend of torture at the hands of his six roommates.

Thomas Chapman, 41, was interviewed by several local Salt Lake City media outlets Tuesday about the alleged assault. His face bruised and his body pocked with raw wounds, Chapman told reporters he had been cut from head to toe with a knife and a power cutting tool, and said his lips, ears, and chest had all been stapled.

The torture began around 9 p.m. Saturday -- when one of the suspects accused Chapman of causing trouble in the neighborhood -- and lasted until about 4 p.m. Sunday, Chapman told KSL.com.

Chapman, who had just moved into the home outside Salt Lake City 10 days ago, denied the accusations. His roommates didn't believe him, and handcuffed him, he said.

"Next thing I know, I'm getting beat up with my laptop, keyboards, boards, sticks, having knives put in my throat, getting kicked in the ribs, getting kicked in the head, basically getting assaulted," Chapman said.

Chapman was struck repeatedly with blunt force objects, including a crutch, a keyboard, and a laptop,?police told KSL. He also had the butt-end of a shotgun slammed into his head, police said.

"I was begging them ... just to kill me, so I didn't have to deal with it no more," he told KSL.

Finally, after hours of beatings, Chapman said he was told to leave the house wearing only underwear. Despite wanting retribution, he fled to a nearby relative's home, where he called police, he said.

Read full story, see Thomas Chapman interview?on KSL.com

"I took the right route, I took the legal route," Chapman said. "I had no intention of calling the cops, I had no intention of calling anybody, I was just going to go solve the problem myself."

Top row: Brandon Haggard, Paula Jones, Tracy Jordan; bottom row: David Masters, Jennifer Moses, Lee Moses.

Greater Salt Lake Unified Police arrived to find Chapman still with handcuffs around one wrist. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he was told he had broken bones in his face. He stayed in the hospital through Tuesday, according to KSL.

Meanwhile, police found a bucket of cleaning solution with some of the tools that had been used to torture Chapman in the basement of his new home, KSL said.

"One of suspects claims over the last several weeks different people have pulled a gun on him in the street," Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal told KSL. "They believe (Chapman) was responsible for it."

The suspects are Jennifer Moses, 30; Lee Carl Moses, 26; David Masters, 55; Paula Masters, 43; Brandon Haggard, 20; and Tracy Jordan, 45. They were all arrested.

"All night, they tortured him," Hoyal said.

Chapman was held in the basement of the home that he moved into recently after agreeing to remodel the bathroom in exchange for rent, KSL reported.

It is not clear how all the suspects know each other.

Jordan has spent time in Utah State Prison, court records say. He has a history of drug- and alcohol-related offenses, reported KSL.

Paula Masters, also known as Paula Jones, has a lengthy criminal rap sheet that includes convictions for forgery and theft by deception, the station reported.

All six roommates are being held?in the Salt Lake County Jail on charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and obstructing justice, reported Fox 13.

Lee Moses?was the roommate who claimed Chapman had stirred up trouble, and he convinced the others of it, Chapman told Fox 13.

??I would?ve never believed these people would?ve done this to me, never ever in the world,? he said.

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