Restaurant manager faces charges for allegedly having sex with underage employee

St. George News stock image | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – A manager of a St. George restaurant is accused of having sex with an underage employee inside the restaurant’s bathroom.

Raymond Kaponga was arrested Thursday, the day before his 23rd birthday, on third-degree felony charges for unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Kaponga, who worked at the Teriyaki Grill located at 974 W. Sunset Blvd., was the girl’s shift leader, according to a pair of unsealed search warrant affidavits and charging documents filed in 5th District Court.

The girl was 15 at the time of the first alleged-sexual encounter and later turned 16. Court documents state that the two also engaged in sexual activity at the suspect’s home.

St. George Police detectives began investigating the case in July after they received an anonymous tip alleging that the two were “having sex in the bathroom of the restaurant.”

The juvenile told police during a forensic interview that Kaponga had forced her to have intercourse with him the first time, but she had consented to the other three times, court records state.

Kaponga initially denied having sex with his employee, telling police he never gave her his address. He later admitted to sending her his address but stated he was “heavily intoxicated and could not remember what happened” on that night, charging documents state.

A search warrant served Aug. 2 stated that the company had “suspended Raymond” after learning about the two having intercourse. However, a warrant served on Aug. 8 stated he had been “transferred” to another location.

Kaponga was booked into the Washington County Correctional Facility and bailed out the same day on a $5,000 bail bond.

Kaponga is scheduled to make an initial appearance in court Tuesday.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @tracie_sullivan

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

4 Comments

  • Real Life August 29, 2017 at 9:44 am

    In Colorado City, God’s will. Anywhere else, a felony.

  • comments August 29, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    You know, I’m a bit hard on u LDS’ers at times, but I actually respect that you try and put some moral behavior into the younglings. LIke this, if ur 15 and already bangin the boss in the crapper I’d say there is little to no hope of a bright future for u. Give it a couple years she either be on welfare with a fatherless child or be another wandering meth addict. Too bad we don’t see a pic of Mr kopongo. Hope it was worth it, buddy. Ur gonna do time and be on the sex offender registry for a long long time.

  • SteveSGU August 30, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    Thinking about using alcohol or other drugs?

    If you take some intoxicating drug, you are responsible for ANYTHING that could happen in your intoxication.

    BTW, “toxic” means “poisonous.”

    • Real Life August 31, 2017 at 2:39 pm

      So if she drinks a little wine, it’s ok to do whatever you want? You need to get out of Utah more often.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.