A Franklin man was sentenced to just under three years probation after pleading guilty to four counts of soliciting sex from local teens.
Mihirbhai N. Patel, 2250 Cedarmill Drive, pleaded guilty to four counts of making an unlawful proposition, which are Class A misdemeanors.
He was sentenced to 1,080 days of probation on each charge, with each sentence to run consecutively by Superior Court 3 Judge Lance Hamner, according to sentencing documents.
Patel was arrested in May 2018 after police began investigating reports from three different teens that Patel had contacted them on social media and, in one case, offered to pay money for sex acts, according to charging documents.
He was 27 when he was arrested and charged last spring.
Police looked into conversations between Patel and the teens, who were all students at Whiteland Community High School, and found that two chats were normal and did not have incriminating content.Â
One chat had turned sexual and Patel offered money for sex acts, charging documents said.Â
Investigators asked the teen if they could take over the social media account, posing as the student, and set up a meeting with Patel, and the teen agreed.
Police set up a meeting with Patel in Franklin and he was arrested after he arrived to meet what he thought was the teenager.
Patel was previously sentenced to community service and to undergo sex offender treatment as part of a pretrial diversion program in 2016. Once he met the requirements of the program, a misdemeanor count of patronizing a prostitute would be dismissed.
In 2015, Patel, who had been a substitute teacher at Franklin Community High School, was arrested after police said he paid money for sex with a teen. The incidents happened during the summer, when Patel met the teenage boy on a website. The two arranged to meet for sex at a Whiteland area motel and then again at the home of a relative of the boy, who was between the age of 16 and 18 at the time.
