West Valley City police have arrested a 25-year-old man after three disabled men died in his vehicle of what appeared to be accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.
The man works for Safe and Sound Services, a business that transports people with disabilities, state records show. He was booked Friday into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of three counts of manslaughter and two counts of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, according to arrest documents.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name people who have been arrested until prosecutors have filed charges. Safe and Sound Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The three men who died were identified by West Valley City police as Colton Moser, 25; Mosa’ati Moa, 22; and Tim Jones, 39. The passengers were residents of three different group homes in West Valley City, authorities said in a post on the social media platform X.
Investigators said in arrest documents that the driver picked up the three men from a group home Friday morning. The driver took the three passengers to his apartment in West Valley City when one of the men “would not calm down and was being disruptive,” police wrote in arrest documents.
At 10 a.m., the driver left the three men in the car and told them to remain in the vehicle, which was running with the windows down, documents state. The driver told investigators he left the car in the garage with the garage door open, then went to his apartment “to eat and watch TV.”
When the driver returned 3.5 hours later, the garage door was closed and the vehicle was off and would not start, according to arrest documents. All three passengers were unresponsive and were declared dead at the scene from what police said appeared to be accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.
Safe and Sound Services, the company the arrested man works for, has been licensed for nearly three years, and is approved to serve a maximum of 62 clients.
In the handful of inspections that licensers have done since the company opened, they haven’t found any major issues. It’s licensed as a day program, which generally means the company helps provide daytime supervision and support for those who are disabled.
The state Department of Health and Human Services took emergency action against Safe and Sound Services on Friday, prohibiting the company from taking new clients for the next 30 days and ordering that all staff must be retrained on safe practices regarding transportation and supervision of clients. It must also comply with increased monitoring and a licensing investigation.
The department said in an emergency notice that it was taking these measures to “protect the immediate health and safety of remaining clients” after the three men died.
Moa’s aunt, Tafale Ki, organized a GoFundMe to help the family with funeral expenses. In a post to the fundraiser site, Ki said the loss of her nephew has left her family “devastated beyond words.”
As of Monday at 11 a.m., the GoFundMe had raised $180 of its $20,000 goal.
“Mosaati was deeply loved and will always be remembered for his unique ways,” Ki wrote on the fundraiser webpage. “Thank you for your love and support as we come together to honor and remember Mosaati.”