A Franklin man was charged with a felony after police said he tried soliciting sex from local teens.
Mihirbhai N. Patel, 27, 2250 Cedarmill Drive, was charged with promoting prostitution, a level 5 felony that carries a maximum sentence of up to six years in prison.
Patel was arrested last month 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 the charging documents.
Police looked into the conversations between Patel and the teens, all students at Whiteland Community High School, and found two of the chats were civil and had nothing incriminating, but one had turned sexual and Patel had offered money for sex acts, according to the documents.
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 in May, and he was arrested after he arrived to meet what he thought was the teenager.
Patel told police “he couldn’t believe he had messed up again,” and that he didn’t care about going to jail, but didn’t want his face and name in the news, the documents said.
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.
