ST. GEORGE — A suspect with more than 15 assault cases with convictions dating back more than a decade is back in jail following a recent incident. The man was charged with felony aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child for allegedly choking a woman in a motel room.

The suspect, 39-year-old Steven Craig Mawhorter, was arrested early Sunday morning at a motel in St. George, when officers and probation agents took the suspect into custody for several outstanding warrants issued for his arrest. 

The following day, a Washington City Police detective learned of the arrest from a patrol officer, who then submitted two charges, including one count each of felony aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child, to the Washington County Attorney’s Officer for review. 

The new charges 

The incident in Washington City was reported four days before, when officers were dispatched to a report of an assault that took place at a motel on West Red Cliffs Drive. 

The call to emergency dispatch came in from an employee with court support services who alleged that a woman had arrived very distraught over an incident that occurred. Officers spoke to the complainant who said that Mawhorter had assaulted her.

Investigators reported that when the suspect first entered, he attempted to pull the woman out of the bathroom, causing her to hit her head in the process. When she started screaming, the report alleges, the suspect covered her mouth with his hand while plugging her nose, and said she “believed she was going to die.” 

The suspect attempted to put her in a choke-hold, police stated. The alleged assault was not the first time that Mawhorter had tried “to block her airway in a violent manner,” the officer noted. 

A four-year-old child was in an adjacent room when the alleged attack took place, and while the child did not see the incident, the youth “was able to hear it.” 

The suspect was gone by the time officers arrived but was arrested four days later in St. George. 

Charges filed 

The Washington City detective submitted two charges following the incident, including one third-degree felony count of aggravated assault and one count of domestic violence in the presence of a child.

Under Utah law, the domestic violence – criminal homicide charge is specific to cases wherein a suspect either commits or attempts to commit a criminal homicide offense against a spouse or partner in the presence of a child.

In this case, the preschooler was within feet of the bathroom where the assault reportedly took place, the investigator noted in the report.

Public safety assessment 

A public safety assessment was also filed with the courts that was flagged, indicating that Mawhorter presented an elevated risk of committing a violent offense. Further, the present offense placed him at a level six, the highest level of risk available on the report.

The assessment also noted the suspect had five prior violent offenses at the time the case was filed, three of which were filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office in January in connection with three separate incidents reported in 2022.

Current cases

One such case involved an incident reported on Dec.6, 2022, when officers responded to a convenience store on Bluff Street shortly before midnight. They were approached by a store employee who pointed to a woman who needed assistance. 

According to charging documents filed at the time of the arrest, the officer recognized the reporting party from prior incidents. While speaking to police, the complainant told police that she had been attacked by the suspect, Mawhorter, during a verbal argument that escalated earlier that same evening. The suspect reportedly charged at the woman and began choking her, lifting her off the ground. Once released, the victim grabbed her child and left.

When officers caught up with the suspect in January, he was arrested and charged with third-degree felony aggravated assault, along with a misdemeanor theft charge for taking the woman’s cell phone.  That case is still pending in the courts. 

Two months prior, Mawhorter was arrested on third-degree felony domestic assault and theft following an incident involving a verbal altercation that turned physical, police say, when the suspect punched a woman in the face and struck her with a frying pan on Sept. 21, 2022. The case was filed in December.

Three days before, police were called out to a report of a family fight on the afternoon of Sept. 17, 2022, and during the altercation police received evidence that Mawhorter was recording the victim on his cell phone, and he “would pause the video and state he was going to kill her then record her reaction,” according to the report.

Cases filed in 2020

In 2020, the suspect was arrest following an incident reported at 2 a.m. on April 5, 2020, after a red pickup reportedly fled from the scene of what was initially reported as an argument and was stopped by a Utah Tech University police officer. 

The driver was later identified as Mawhorter, who admitted to arguing with six juveniles on West 400 South earlier, and said they “brandished knives and large rocks as weapons,” which is when the suspect got out of his truck and pulled a large hunting knife. When he pointed it at the group, the suspect said, the minors backed up, so he jumped back in his truck and left. 

Officer also noticed a large, fixed blade hunting knife on the dashboard of the suspect’s truck, along with several throwing knives that were recovered from the center console. 

He was later charged with two third-degree felony counts of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and one misdemeanor count of threatening or using a dangerous weapon in a fight. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor possession of a dangerous weapons charge that was reduced to a misdemeanor, while the second charge was dismissed. 

 Another assault that took place in 2020 began with a call to police reporting that Mawhorter “was beating people up,” and when officers responded they found that a verbal altercation became physical when the suspect reportedly punched a younger family member in the face and head. Minutes before, Mawhorter was fighting with a girlfriend, the report alleges, and the relative was attacked when he attempted to intervene. 

When questioned, the suspect told officers he was “being beat in the head with a pan,” and when he put up his arm to defend himself, he “bumped the person hitting him,” and said he had no further contact. He was arrested and booked into jail facing misdemeanor assault and protective order violations shortly thereafter.

Officers also noted that a young child was present during the alleged altercation.

In December of that same year, the defendant was charged with domestic violence in the presence of a child and criminal mischief charges following an incident reported on Dec. 8, 2020, wherein the suspect reportedly threw knives at a woman and her daughter, one of which struck an aerosol that exploded before he fled the scene in a pickup truck.

When he returned to the home, police say, he destroyed the home security camera and he was later arrested and charged with the offenses. He pleaded no contest to the charges the following year and a global resolution was reached wherein the suspect was ordered to serve 400 days in jail and was placed on probation.

Following his arrest on Saturday, Mawhorter remains in jail on a no-bail hold.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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