DARLINGTON — A Darlington man was arrested April 27 on prostitution charges after a police investigation found he was soliciting teenage girls for sex, although none of his alleged solicitation appears to have resulted in contact or a money transaction.
Tejaskumar H. Patel, 29, is charged with two misdemeanor counts of prostitution and four Class D felony counts of soliciting a child for prostitution. A Class D felony carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
He was released April 29 after posting a $3,000 cash bond. He is due back in Lafayette County Circuit Court on May 12. Conditions of his bond include no travel outside Wisconsin, no contact with anyone younger than 18 and no internet access except for employment purposes.
That means “no Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and all the other ones that seem to crop up,” Judge Duane Jorgenson said at Patel’s initial appearance, which was held via video conference. “The court’s familiar that (social media outlets) exist but I’m not sure what each and every one of them are.”
Jorgenson said a cash bail was appropriate because Patel’s ties to the community “don’t appear to be great” and he needs “the incentive to remain here when facing such significant criminal charges.”
Lafayette County District Attorney Jenna Gill said she didn’t believe Patel has “any type of criminal history.” She said he has only lived in Darlington for a few years and travels often to Ohio.
“I do have some pretty serious concerns about public safety. He was adding people (on social media) based on their location and then soliciting them for contact,” Gill said, adding that “local high school girls” were among those he solicited.
She noted Patel “has cooperated and admitted ... to what he was offering.”
Assistant State Public Defender Guy Taylor did not object to the bond conditions although he noted that social media sites, not the internet as a whole, are “the crux of the matter here” and without access to them, “he won’t be making lewd suggestions to anyone.”
According to the criminal complaint, Darlington police began investigating Patel after a member of the community reported his 16-year-old daughter and her friends had received unwanted messages from Patel offering them “$200 for 20 minutes.”
Police reviewed the activity of Patel’s Instagram account, “desii_boyy00,” and found conversations in which Patel appeared to be offering money for sex.
In an exchange with one girl, documented in the criminal complaint, she tentatively agreed but wrote “we can just hang and stuff because I’m scared (to be honest)” and that his proposition was “scary.” In response, he assured her it wasn’t, “Trust me.”
None of the conversations documented in the criminal complaint appear to have resulted in Patel meeting anyone or paying for sex. When interviewed by police, Patel eventually admitted to sending the messages and offering money, but said he never met with anyone.