A Utah judge has granted a mutual protection order for “Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex-girlfriend Dakota Mortensen. The former couple appeared in a Salt Lake City courtroom Thursday to discuss domestic violence charges and an order of protection stemming from the allegations, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune. Custody of their 2-year-old son is also being monitored.
Commissioner Russell Minas ruled that Paul and Mortensen must maintain a distance of 100 feet from each other. Although it is not a criminal protection order, you may be arrested if an incident occurs. “This is a very toxic relationship,” he said. “If we don’t order both parties to distance themselves, there will be more problems.”
Meanwhile, Jesse Draper, who also stars in Mormon Housewives, filed a statement in court saying Mortensen confided in her about his plan to leak Paul’s video to TMZ in order to humiliate her. Paul’s attorney Eric Swinyard said the statement stemmed from a conversation Mortensen had with Draper, her now estranged husband and another man days before the TMZ video, which led ABC to cancel Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette.” The video showed Paul throwing chairs at Mortensen and one of them hitting the child.
Swinyard released a statement after the hearing, saying, “Today’s hearing was an important step forward as the court issued an order of protection requiring Taylor’s ex-partner to stay far away from Taylor. Taylor told the court incredibly candidly that he is not perfect and that it was his fault. This is in contrast to the way his opponents have argued, despite evidence and input from law enforcement to the contrary.”
“Ms. Taylor feels solidarity with the many survivors who have endured similar hardships behind closed doors and shared only part of their stories, and remains grateful for the outpouring of support she continues to receive. She looks forward to continuing to work with the court to move forward with her custody case,” the statement concluded.
Draper’s statement said Mortensen was in the basement of his home in March, angry that police “did nothing” about his report. Mr Swinyard said: “We are going to take matters into our own hands to embarrass Taylor.”
Mortensen “specifically told Ms. Draper that he intended to leak embarrassing videos of Taylor to the press, starting with the Barstool video,” Swinyard told the Salt Lake City Tribune. “He specifically named TMZ as that medium, and a few days later that very video was published by TMZ.”
