PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A New Jersey man has been charged with flying to Rhode Island to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl but was really an undercover state police trooper, authorities say.
Amish Jayant Patel, 47, of Swedesboro, New Jersey, was ordered detained by a federal magistrate judge on Monday on charges of enticement and interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct, according to a statement Tuesday from the office of U.S. Attorney Aaron Weisman.
A message was left with Patel’s federal public defender.
Patel communicated online for nearly a month with a person he thought was a 14-year-old Rhode Island girl, authorities said. The communications included sending sexually explicit pictures, prosecutors said.
The person he was actually communicating with was a Rhode Island State Police detective with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
According to court documents, Patel arrived at T.F. Green Airport on Sunday and was followed by police to a liquor store where he purchased alcohol, and then to a location where he was expecting to meet the girl. He was arrested without incident.
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