Suspect arrested, accused of assaulting woman in downtown Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Detectives with the Salt Lake City Police Department have arrested a man believed to be a part of multiple sexual assaults.

Joshua Palacios, 35, was booked in the Salt Lake County Jail on two counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of unlawful detention. Police say they began investigating the incident around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning after a woman reported a “suspicious circumstance.”

According to SLCPD, officers responded to an incident near 100 South West Temple Street where Palacios allegedly offered a woman a ride. Police say the woman accepted the offer, despite not knowing the man.

While inside the vehicle, police believe Palacios sexually assaulted the woman. After the assault, the suspect then allegedly drove the woman to a parking lot where he assaulted her again.

Detectives believe Palacios has been involved in similar assaults in the past by picking up different women and assaulting them inside his vehicle.

Court documents show Palacios was also arrested in May for failing to disclose his identity after police cited him for parking in a handicapped parking space of an EOS gym in Bountiful.