Former West Jordan police officer Nelson Tuatagaloa admitted Tuesday he sexually took advantage of an emotionally distraught woman while in uniform two years ago.
Tuatagaloa was scheduled for a jury trial in 3rd District Court on two counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse.
Instead, the 35-year-old ex-officer pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of third-degree felony custodial sexual relations. The statute applies to police and correctional officers who engage in sexual acts with prisoners in their custody.
He faces up to five years in prison on each count when he is sentenced March 25 by Judge Judith Atherton.
On the night of Sept. 30, 2008, Tuatagaloa was supposed to be taking a reportedly suicidal woman to Jordan Valley Hospital for a mental evaluation.
The woman testified last year at a preliminary hearing she had called her estranged husband that night and threatened to kill herself even though she had no intention of committing suicide. She left her house with a handgun but called police after learning they were looking for her.
Tuatagaloa and another officer arrested her. On the way to a hospital in Tuatagaloa's cruiser, the woman said he held her hand and told her, "You've made a new friend tonight."
As they approached the hospital, the woman saw two friends by the entrance and told Tuatagaloa she didn't want to see them. He responded by stopping on a darkened side of the building.
Tuatagaloa -- who had accused the woman of being intoxicated by alcohol -- asked to smell her breath, then started kissing her, she testified. The woman said when she put on her seat belt, indicating she was ready to go, he took it off and started kissing her again. Then he put his hand inside her clothing and touched her breasts and genitals, she said.
The woman testified that while she never said "no" or pushed Tuatagaloa away, she did not want or welcome his advances. She added she felt she had to do everything Tuatagaloa wanted because he was a police officer and, based on what she had seen on TV shows, he could say or do anything -- even kill her.
According to police dispatch times, Tuatagaloa and the woman was parked for about 40 minutes before she was delivered to the hospital.
She testified when she told her friends what had happened, they insisted she tell hospital personnel, who notified police.
