Mom accused of kidnapping 11-year-old boy, forcing him to apologize to her daughter after he rejected the girl

PROVO, Utah (KSL) — A mother in Utah is accused of kidnapping an 11-year-old boy and forcing him to apologize to her daughter after he rejected the girl.

Amberlee Collazo said her 11-year-old son has been constantly “bothered” by a girl who has a crush on him.

“For the last two years, she has been bothering my son,” Collazo said.

But eventually, Collazo said the situation went too far.

One day, Collazo said her son got “fed up with the fact that she doesn’t leave him alone,” and he rejected the girl with a rude comment.

But then, the girl’s mother stepped in.

Shannon Marie Tufuga, 40, is accused of kidnapping the boy to force him to apologize to her daughter.

“Grabbed him by the arm and said he was going with her to apologize to her daughter,” Collazo said. “And she put him in her vehicle and took him to her home and sat him on her couch.”

Collazo said her son was threatened and forced to apologize to the girl before Tufuga released him.

“They basically opened their door and told them to get the F out, and he ran all the way home,” Collazo said.

The situation happened in September 2025 but has recently led to child abuse and kidnapping charges for Tufuga.

“Even if your child is being bullied, the law doesn’t give you permission to kidnap that child,” said Christopher Ballard with the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

Tufuga’s attorney released a statement saying, in part, that they respectfully deny the allegation, describing their filing as “a symptom of our own society’s failings where children were once held accountable by their own parents.”

But Collazo disagrees and said the situation could have been handled differently.

“Had she come knock on my door like an adult and said, ‘Hey, our kids are having issues, can we speak?’ I would’ve gladly let her in and we could’ve handled the situation. But not once did she ever try. I’ve never met this woman,” Collazo said.

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