On August 25, 2026, during the school day, a 16-year-old female high school student walked off campus to a nearby parking area. Waiting there was an 18-year-old woman carrying a phone supplied by Holding Out HELP (HOH) director Tonia Tewell for the student. The girl's parents had taken away her regular phone to protect her from an adult man who was contacting her and physically meeting her in secret. The new device reportedly had three contacts programmed into it: Tonia Tewell, the girl's adult boyfriend, and the 18-year-old who supplied the phone.
Soon after, the girl texted her adult boyfriend from the new device: “I just can't let anyone know I have this phone.”
The incident, recently reported to DCCSOCIETY.ORG, is the latest in a troubling pattern involving minor girls from the plural community and outside organizations, including government agencies, assisting those minors in leaving their parents' homes to go live with their adult boyfriends.
DCCS families maintain conservative standards governing relationships between unmarried men and women, following the Apostle Paul's admonition in the Bible that “it is good for a man not to touch a woman” (1 Corinthians 7:1) and to treat men and women “as brothers and sisters, with all purity” (1 Timothy 5:2). These scriptures form part of the basis for the DCCS standard, “My first kiss will be on my wedding day.”
Increasingly, parents report adult men dismissing those standards while secretly pursuing relationships with minor girls. Recent cases involve girls between 14 and 17 and adult men between 19 and 27. Some of the men have been arrested and served jail time; others have not.
This pattern would be alarming to any group of parents who have a moral and legal mandate to protect and guide their minor children. For parents in plural families, however, history shows they have little protection from police or other state agencies who exist to protect minors from these types of predators.
The 18-year-old woman who delivered the phone had recently gone through a remarkably similar situation herself. Although she is no longer a minor, her identity is being protected to maintain privacy at the request of her family.
At 17, she was involved with a 21-year-old boyfriend. When her parents prohibited the relationship, she sought the help of TV producer and attorney Roger Hoole and Holding Out HELP director Tonia Tewell to leave home and ultimately continue the relationship with her adult boyfriend, whom she moved in with while she was still 17.
Court documents show that Roger Hoole represented the minor in her emancipation proceedings. The court petition read much like Hoole's other made-for-TV court filings, containing sensational accusations that most DCCS members would hardly recognize as descriptions of their community.
In material obtained by DCCSOCIETY.ORG, when the girl was asked about her “pro se” court petition, she responded: “When I first read the petition, I was like, what the heck, they are kinda being dramatic about things.”
When asked whether she had written it, she replied, “No, I told my lawyer, but I signed off on it …. some of it didn't seem like it was all the way true, but I signed off on it.”
Now an adult herself, the same young woman is acting as an intermediary for Holding Out HELP in assisting another minor who is involved with an adult boyfriend.
For the more recent teenager who received the phone just off school property, text messages show that she concealed both the meeting and the phone from her parents. Tewell was also communicating directly with the teenager about running away soon after she received the phone, describing the process in detail.
Messages clearly show that the girl told Tewell her boyfriend was over 18, although she maintained that she was not leaving home to be with him. The adult boyfriend texts her, "We'll have to wait a week or two [after you leave], but easily I want to [hang out]."
Later, Tewell gave the girl another instruction: “Please delete these text threads.” She later wrote, “Again delete everything.” suggesting Tewell knew her contact with the minor could be legally problematic given the circumstances.
Roger Hoole's involvement is also well documented. Court documents show Hoole's involvement in multiple cases involving minors from the plural community leaving home some of them ultimately to live with adult men.
Hoole is also a co-founder, director, secretary and pro bono attorney for the nonprofit JustProtect, an organization that publishes a Utah guide for minors considering leaving “high-control” groups. The guide identifies both Hoole and Holding Out HELP as resources for minors considering leaving.
DCFS is required by Utah law to act in the best interest of children, but lately the agency appears to be allowing the preferences of “Mormon rescue” organizations such as Holding Out HELP to influence placement decisions above the well-being of the children involved.
When the 18-year-old described above was placed in DCFS custody as a minor, rather than considering a responsible next of kin, family members report that DCFS would not consider anyone who was a member of the Davis County Cooperative Society, a decision they believed showed clear illegal bias.
The teen was instead placed with her 23-year-old aunt, Jana Johnson, whose public social media posts appear to show her participating in a weekend in Las Vegas involving smoking, alcohol and sexualized behavior with friends during the same week her niece was placed in her care by DCFS.
In the case of the recent high school student, texts obtained by DCCSOCIETY.ORG show that one of Johnson's friends, Allison Eames, also frequently seen on social media with Johnson, appears to have been a preferred placement option discussed by Tonia Tewell for the 16-year-old. The girl texts, “Imma text Allison….” and later, “Allison [Eames] said she can take guardianship over me.”
When the teen tells Tewell that Eames has agreed to offer guardianship, Tewell responds, “I love Allison.”
Allison has made headlines in another case, where her sister's children were removed from their parents' home and placed with an antagonistic ex-DCCS member, while dis-regarding relative placement options offered to DCFS by the family of the children.
Eames, who was recently divorced, was charged with Assault / Domestic Violence and Criminal Trespass in September 2025 and was ordered to appear before the court "to show cause" for violating a protective Order in September 2026.
DCFS decision to place minors with individuals enabling them to circumvent normal parental oversight as well as Tewell’s apparent support for Eames as a potential guardian raises serious questions about the credibility of Holding Out HELP and DCFS. It also calls into question their judgment in recommending safe and qualified placements for troubled teenagers seeking to leave their parents’ homes while secretly maintaining contact with adult men.
The current pattern involving Roger Hoole, Holding Out HELP and Tonia Tewell is the latest chapter in a long line of schemes to create content for docu-dramas that ultimately profit off of vulnerable people in the plural community.
Previous DCCSOCIETY.ORG investigations, supported by public records obtained through GRAMA requests, documented Tewell's involvement in efforts to shut down Vanguard Academy, a high-performing charter school attended by some children from the plural community. Public records from 2021 and 2022 show communications among Tewell, government officials and others involved in actions against the school by the Utah State Charter School Board (USCB). Those actions by the UCSB were later deemed improper and Vanguard was restored to good standing.
Helping a minor leave home does not, by itself, constitute human trafficking. However, the circumstances documented here raise serious questions about adults assisting minors to circumvent parental supervision while maintaining romantic or sexual relationships with adult men. Those concerns deepen when the minors’ stories are subsequently used as content in for-profit docu-dramas, generating revenue for those involved.
Parents who believe an adult is engaging in illegal sexual conduct with their minor child should contact law enforcement. Parents concerned about the conduct of Holding Out HELP, Tonia Tewell or their partners are encouraged to contact the appropriate state authorities.
Copyright © Davis County Cooperative Society
