Jury convicts woman of bilking charity

Ellicott City resident guilty of taking vets foundation money for personal use

The longtime president of a veterans charity was convicted Thursday by a federal jury in Washington, D.C., of spending money meant for the charity on jewelry, shopping and other personal expenses.

Patricia Driscoll, 40, of Ellicott City, was found guilty of two counts each of wire fraud and tax evasion, and one count of first-degree fraud, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

Driscoll is scheduled to be sentenced in March and faces decades in prison.

Her defense attorney decried the verdict, insisting his client broke no laws.

“The jury did not get it right — Patricia Driscoll is innocent,” attorney Brian W. Stolarz said in a statement. “We are very disappointed by the verdict and the government’s misconduct in this case. We will appeal. This is not the final chapter to this story.”

Driscoll resigned her position at the helm of the Armed Forces Foundation in July 2015 after 12 years of service amid a scandal involving what the nonprofit alleged was Driscoll’s misuse of funds.

The charity was established in 2001 to promote veterans’ emotional and physical health through outdoor activities and small grants to help needy military families pay bills. On its 2015 federal tax filing, it disclosed that it had found evidence that Driscoll had misspent more than $900,000 for personal purposes, starting in 2006.

The foundation reported about $44 million in revenue during those years, according to public tax records.

Driscoll was indicted in September 2016 on eight felony counts, but three of those charges were dismissed before the trial concluded, court records show.

Prosecutors accused Driscoll of falsifying donors and donations, failing to disclose fundraising commissions she paid herself and using foundation money for personal purposes — including shopping trips, legal fees and covering bills for her private defense-contracting business.

Some of the suspect spending included a trip to a jewelry store, a grocery, a dermatologist and more than $65,000 in legal fees related to her accusations of domestic violence against her ex- boyfriend, NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, in 2014, according to court records.

Shortly after Driscoll was indicted, the Armed Forces Foundation announced it was suspending operations and planned to shut down.

The nonprofit was co-founded by former California Rep. Duncan L. Hunter, who helped recruit Driscoll to run day-to-day operations.

Hunter was succeeded in the House by his son, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, who promoted the organization and attended charity events after he was elected to Congress in 2008.

The elder Hunter served as an unpaid member of the nonprofit board as his career in public office wound down, at one point serving as chairman. He left the foundation in 2012.

In an unrelated criminal proceeding, the younger Hunter and his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret, were indicted in August on 60 counts of felony crimes stemming from their alleged personal use of more than $250,000 from the coffers of Hunter’s political campaign.

Both Duncan and Margaret Hunter have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Duncan Hunter was re-elected to a sixth term earlier this month and faces trial next year.

Neither the former or current congressman responded to requests for comment.

Driscoll was the subject of sometimescolorful news articles in 2014, when she got into the bitter dispute with Busch, the champion race car driver known as “The Outlaw.”

The two met in 2010 and began dating. Driscoll recruited Busch and the NASCAR organization to help the Armed Forces Foundation’s cause. Working together, they raised money to assist military families and brought veterans to races to boost their morale.

The couple broke up in 2014, and Driscoll accused Busch of domestic violence. She alleged he smashed her head against the wall of a motor home at Delaware’s Dover International Speedway in September 2014. She sought a temporary restraining order that led to a court hearing.

At the hearing, Busch testified under oath that he believed Driscoll was a paid assassin. He said he once saw Driscoll go out for the evening dressed in camouflage and boots and return hours later wearing a trench coat over an evening gown spattered with blood and “other matter,” according to reports.