Parole board's fiery response after 2News investigation into attack by career criminal

MILLCREEK, Utah (KUTV) — A savage attack – a career criminal under state and federal supervision, and a text message from the top correction’s official leads to a fiery response to a 2News Investigation.

The Administrative Director for the Board of Pardons and Parole is pushing back following an attack on a Millcreek barber shop owner on November 8, 2023, criticizing the reporting and accusing the executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections of having a personal opinion in this case.

It took some time for Jennifer Yim, Administrative Director for BOPP to agree to an on-camera interview, but when she did, she took aim at 2News Investigates for showing what Brian Redd, the Executive Director of the Utah Department of Corrections texted Adult Probation and Parole after James Edward Allums who has a forty-year history of committing violent crimes, had been caught.

MORE: Parole board's repeated release of violent offender questioned after Utah woman attacked

Allums was arrested by the US Marshals Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team, known as VFAST after Unified Police say he attacked the owner of Stag Barber Shop after she closed the business on November 8 and beat her with a metal cement stake, robbed her and tried to kidnap her. Allums, UPD says and records we obtained show, had what turned out to be a fake gun and duct tape.

The barber shop owner named Mulan does not want to use her last name or show her face but fought for her life and was able to get away. She crawled on her hands and knees through the parking lot leaving a bloody trail when a passerby found her and called 911. UPD has surveillance video of her crawling covered in blood screaming for help but due to the active prosecution of Allums, they are not allowed to release it.

“I just fall off the ground from there I crawl all the way the whole building and here. My two knees - all of the blood everywhere the skin come all off,” Mulan said.

She suffered multiple injuries including nearly a dozen lacerations and wounds all over her head and face because of the attack.

Critical incident documents 2News Investigates obtained show the race against the clock to find her attacker after the Utah State Crime Lab got a hit on DNA from the suspect’s beanie and gun and it matched Allums. Three days after the attack, Allums was taken into custody and had to be hospitalized for a canine “bite” and or canine “nibble,” those documents show.

That same day electronic communications 2News Investigates obtained through a public records request known as GRAMA from the Utah Department of Corrections include a text message UDC Executive Director Brian Redd sent to Aimee Griffiths, the AP&P Region 3 Chief, “Interested to know why he was released if this violent,” the text message said.

At that point, Redd had been on the job for approximately six months after Governor Cox appointed him to replace Brian Nielson who abruptly retired following the filing of a lawsuit against UDC, AP&P and BOPP on May 1, 2023. Redd had served 21 years in the Utah Department of Public Safety and rose through the ranks from trooper to chief special agent and served as the director of the State Bureau of Investigation and the Statewide Information and Analysis Center.

Yim took exception to 2News Investigates using Redd’s text message in our initial report on Allums that aired on February 29.

“To be honest Wendy, the thing that I found disturbing, troubling about that report is that while it's true you had a GRAMA requested text, from someone who started work within a day of when I did, we're both relative newcomers to the scene. We haven't been watching and supervising on the ground Mister Allums case for all of these years, we're kind of newcomers saying you know, off the cuff, explain this to me, to our staff,” said Yim.

During a parole violation hearing held on August 18, 2021, AP&P recommended the BOPP release Allums to federal custody. This is an excerpt of that recording: “So, we had similar thoughts if he has a significant amount of time to serve with the feds to release him so he can serve that time. And once he's done with that, just dual supervision,” the agent said.

The recommendation came after Allums was convicted in another robbery at Dirk's Fine Dry Cleaning in Salt Lake City that occurred on May 18, 2019. Allums was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office and was sentenced in U.S. District Court on July 27, 2021, to 15 months in federal prison which ran concurrent with his state sentences.

This is why AP&P made that recommendation that he be released to federal custody to serve his 15 months in federal prison. To be clear, Allums was not paroled back into the community.

Yim added, “So, while it's true that Director Redd was surprised, as was I, when I learned about the case it, his personal opinion was not representative of the department's decision.”

The recording reveals AP&P’s recommendation carried weight that Allums should be released to federal custody. To that end, Yim told 2News Investigates, “The department's decision was to recommend that he be released to federal custody and that is what the Board did.”

What’s more, Yim contends the 2News Investigation lacked context.

“So, that's I think an example of where I felt like context really mattered because Director Redd's text is one, a one-off opinion, but the considered recommendation of people on the ground who work with this formerly incarcerated individual who is now on supervision for state and federal custody was to release him to federal custody that's what matters.”

We reached out to Redd for comment. He was not available for an on-camera interview on Wednesday but in a statement Glen Mills, UDC Director of Communications and Government Relations wrote:

“Executive Director Redd’s text was not an opinion. It was a question posed out of genuine concern for public safety and a desire to learn from the situation. It was not intended to criticize. We value our partnership with the BOPP, and are committed to working together to protect our community.”

Regarding AP&P’s recommendation to release Allums to federal custody a few years ago, Yim says, “Is it enough that the Department of Corrections makes a certain recommendation? No, it's not enough because that's not the totality of the situation.”

Decades ago, the Board of Pardons and Parole clearly lacked James Edward Allums criminal record from Alabama.

Listen to his original parole hearing on April 19, 2005, where Parole Board Member Don Blanchard said he did not have the information.

2News Investigates discussed this with BOPP Administrative Director Jennifer Yim and she acknowledged seeing that in the record.