Taylor Frankie Paul Will Not Face New Charges

In March, news of a domestic violence investigation between #MomTok’s Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen, paused production on Season 5 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and threatened to end #MomTok for good. Little was known to the public about the investigation, only that allegations had been made in both directions. Then, the three-year-old video dropped.

Paul was previously charged with misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief, and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child after an incident in 2023—the same incident that was recorded and sent to TMZ, which, in turn, led to Paul’s season of The Bachelorette being canceled (although this case was eventually settled, and the charges against Paul were dropped). But as of Tuesday, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office has declined to press any new charges against Paul concerning the recent domestic violence allegations filed by Mortensen.

According to the DA, the statute of limitations for misdemeanors (three years) has expired for a number of the claims, and the incidents that do fall within the three years “lack sufficient evidence to support filing criminal charges, where the state must be able to prove such allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“Cried when I got the call,” Paul wrote in an Instagram story, “THANK YOU to those that have stood with me.”

It is still unclear whether the city will move forward with Paul’s filing against Mortensen, in which she alleges that he has a “pattern of abusive conduct and coercive control” and had become “increasingly possessive” leading up to the premiere of The Bachelorette.

The February incident that sparked the investigation was an altercation in which Paul and Mortensen got into a verbal dispute at her home, entered his vehicle to talk, and then he allegedly drove away without her consent. According to Paul’s filing against Mortensen, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, “the parties argued and Dakota assaulted Taylor by slamming her head against the dashboard of his truck and striking her knee and elbow.”

Last week, Paul and Mortensen were both granted protective orders against each other, but Paul is still not allowed to visit their son, Ever, without supervision. Mortensen was also, correctly, edited out of his appearances on Vanderpump Villa. Because if Paul’s entire season of The Bachelorette was pulled from the air days before the premiere, Mortensen shouldn’t be on TV either.

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