Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
MIDVALE — A former fast food manager currently serving jail time for inappropriately touching a teenage employee is now facing new charges after investigators say they've since discovered that the abuse went much further.
Jeffrey Howard Pruyne, 28, who moved to Rochester, New Hampshire, shortly after the original allegations came to light, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with two counts of rape, a first-degree felony.
In 2020, Pruyne was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl he met at a Midvale fast food restaurant where he was a manager and she was an employee. Pruyne groomed the teen, eventually telling her they were going to get married and he controlled who she could talk to, according to charging documents.
He was convicted in March of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced to a year in jail with 184 days of that term suspended. He arrived at the Salt Lake County Jail on April 26 to begin serving a six-month sentence, according to court records. Pruyne remained in jail as of Thursday.
In April, after Pruyne was convicted, the girl disclosed that she had actually had sex with Pruyne at his house in West Jordan, but "stated that she withheld this new information from investigators and prosecutors," according to a search warrant affidavit. During a subsequent interview with a West Jordan police detective, the girl further stated that she "had withheld the critical information from investigators and prosecutors because Jeffrey made her promise that she would not tell anyone about the sexual intercourse because he would be in a lot of trouble."
As police investigated the new allegations, they learned that Pruyne had taken the girl to Planned Parenthood and paid for birth control, the charges state. The girl also said "they were both fired from Chick-fil-A after being caught kissing at the restaurant."
During her interview with police, the girl also said that after Pruyne was charged the first time, he called her and asked her to withhold information, stating that "'he could work with the allegations of touching, but he would be in a lot of trouble if anyone knew they had sex.' (The girl) stated she was manipulated into withholding a full disclosure," the charging documents allege.
