Salt Lake IT employee accused of leaking police info faces new trafficking charge

A former Salt Lake City IT employee accused of leaking sensitive police information to benefit a sex trafficking ring now faces a new criminal charge.

A former Salt Lake City IT employee accused of leaking sensitive police information to benefit a sex trafficking ring now faces a new criminal charge. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

WEST JORDAN — A former IT employee for Salt Lake City accused of leaking sensitive police information to benefit a human trafficking ring now faces a new criminal charge.

Patrick Kevin Driscoll, 50, of Salt Lake City, is now charged with aggravated human trafficking for forced sexual exploitation, a first-degree felony.

A judge heard testimony Wednesday against Driscoll, who is accused of endangering law enforcement officers by releasing information about undercover operations to Michael Ricks, who is facing multiple charges for prostitution and drug dealing.

Driscoll is accused of giving the impression that he was a police officer in order to intimidate girls who were in the operation and convince them that they could not turn him down, according to court documents.

In addition to the new charge, Driscoll is also charged with three counts of obstructing justice and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, second-degree felonies; two counts of computer crimes interfering with critical infrastructure, one a second-degree felony and the other a third-degree felony; exploitation of prostitution, a third-degree felony; plus aiding prostitution, a class A misdemeanor.

Third District Judge Chelsea Koch will resume Driscoll's preliminary hearing on March 10 to hear arguments from the attorneys. At that point, she is expected to decide whether there is enough evidence to order Driscoll to stand trial on the charges against him.

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL.com. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Newsletter Signup

KSL Weather Forecast

KSL Weather Forecast
Play button