SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) A man wielding a machete chased and assaulted three women in Cottonwood Heights after they denied his sexual advances on Sunday, according to Cottonwood Heights Police.

Elias Samuel Webber, 35, was arrested in Salt Lake County on three counts of aggravated assault (third-degree felony), three counts of forcible sexual abuse (second-degree felony), two counts of threat of violence (class-B misdemeanor), among other charges.

On Oct. 5, police responded to an assault in the area of 1700 East 7200 South in Cottonwood Heights. The caller reported that Webber was drunk and had assaulted her and her friends, chasing them with a knife in his hand.

An officer arrived on scene and found three females in distress, running from a gravel road. One of the females had “very obvious injuries, and was bleeding,” court documents state. She told the officer that Webber was outside on the side of the house where they were located, and was chasing them.

The officer found Webber in the yard, in his underwear, holding a large machete around 16-18 inches in size.

“I drew my weapon and gave commands to [Webber] to drop the knife. He dropped the knife and was placed under arrest,” the officer wrote in the affidavit of probable cause. “[Webber] was very obviously intoxicated, as a strong odor was coming off his person and he could not keep his
balance.”

Upon being interviewed, the three victims stated that they had denied Webber of sex, and Webber pushed one of them to the ground. He then chased all three of them with the machete in his hand.

He allegedly slapped one victim in the head, causing bruising, redness, and bleeding. Webber made verbal threats to the victims, touched them sexually without their consent, and grabbed and threw two of their phones, according to court documents.

Webber failed to identify himself when taken to jail, instead harassing the arresting officer, smirking and asking if the officer was “scared” of him, police said.

Webber has an active warrant from 2022, as well as a protective order issued against him.

He was booked into Salt Lake County Jail on the aforementioned charges. No further information is available at this time.