An Indian man, identified as 27-year-old Kavankumar Patel, who worked as a staff member at a hotel in Nebraska in United States was sentenced to ten years in jail for paying for sex with a trafficked teen.
Patel and other hotel staff were allegedly involved in sexual acts with two trafficked minors, aged 15 and 16, who had been brought to the AmericInn hotel in Omaha from outside the state "to be sold for commercial sex," the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska said in a statement.
After they were recovered from the hotel, the two minors told authorities that their traffickers had directed them to engage in sexual relations with the hotel staff for cheaper room rates, so that they would not get kicked out.
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Patel, who is originally from Gujarat, was sentenced by a federal court in Omaha for two counts of sex trafficking of a minor. The 27-year-old also faces deportation after completing his prison sentence, given that he was in the US illegally.
Employees paid traffickers, Patel used hotel money for payment
{{/usCountry}}Patel, who is originally from Gujarat, was sentenced by a federal court in Omaha for two counts of sex trafficking of a minor. The 27-year-old also faces deportation after completing his prison sentence, given that he was in the US illegally.
Employees paid traffickers, Patel used hotel money for payment
{{/usCountry}}Patel admitted to using money from the hotel to pay the traffickers to have sex with one of the minors at the hotel. Apart from Patel, two other hotel employees too paid the trafficker to have sex with one of the minors and a third hotel employee had sex with the other minor, the district attorney's officer stated.
The hotel staff had permitted the minors and their traffickers to stay at the hotel for multiple days. The traffickers would also post advertisements for commercial sex and arrange such acts from the hotel itself. The minors reported getting little food and being pushed to engage in the acts as directed by their captors without any choice in the matter.
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How did the crime come to light?
The Omaha police department received a report of theft on January 6, 2025, wherein responding officers identified indications of sex trafficking. “The Homeland Security Task Force and the Omaha Police Department immediately began investigating and recovered two minor females, aged 15 and 16,” the district attorney's office stated.
After Patel serves his ten-year term, he will begin a five-year term of supervised release, given that there is no parole in the American federal system. Meanwhile, the Homeland Security Task Force rescued the minors. “…Anyone with knowledge or suspicion of human trafficking in our communities should reach out to state or federal law enforcement immediately to report those concerns,” the attorney's office said.