A judge ordered on Tuesday that a man who lied about being a government official and then used two women in the Tampa Bay area to get close to $1 million will spend six years in federal jail.
Judge William Jung of the U.S. District Court called the crime “evil and wicked.” He said that older people were scammed because they were told they would be arrested if they didn’t give up their life savings.
Jung said, “It’s about the same as coming into their house and shooting them in the head.” “These people were scared.”
Federal guidelines say the person should spend three years in jail, but the judge said he was going to give them a much shorter sentence.
Jung seemed to change his mind after hearing points from Assistant Public Defender Adam Allen. Allen said Patel’s only role in the scheme was to deliver “bad money.”
His lawyer said he took the job when things were bad in his life.
Allen told the judge, “He was really sad and not doing well.” “Those are the kinds of people who are forced to work as mules.”
Last year, Patel, who is 33 years old, admitted that he was involved in a plot to hide money.
Eleven victims were found in seven states by federal investigators. It was thought that they lost about $1.8 million all together.
Jen Peresie, an assistant U.S. attorney, read a message from a man who lost $49,000. He wrote that he had to sell his house because he wasn’t able to pay his bills.
Peresie said that the scam “talked him to pieces.”
A Ruskin woman told police in December 2023 that she had given away a lot of cash and gold at the request of someone who had called her. This led to the discovery of the crime.
Records show that the woman, whose name was written in court as “E.L.,” thought the person was a Treasury Department employee. After being told there was an arrest warrant out for her on charges of money laundering, she gave money to get rid of the order.
In more than one exchange, she said, a car pulled up to her house and told her to put cash packages in the back seat. The driver and she never talked.
The woman took money out of her bank accounts, life insurance policy, and Roth IRA over the course of several months and several transactions. She had already lost $170,000 by the time the police found out about the plan.
A woman in Pasco County told the police a similar story. In court papers, that woman, whose name was given as “D.L.,” talked about how she had dealt with someone she thought was a Treasury agent for cash and gold bars. She was said to have lost a total of $732,000.
The last exchange took place outside of a Ruskin Circle K, while Hillsborough officers and U.S. Secret Service agents watched. “E.L.” was told to bring gold coins and bars worth $27,000. Instead, the agents gave her a box of soap, which she put in the back of a red Jeep.
They stuck with the driver until they got to the Wiregrass mall in Wesley Chapel. The people parked at the mall and watched Patel open the package. He was then put in jail.
The lawyer for Patel said that his client tried to help the police. He could, however, only give limited details about the people who hired him.
No one else who was part of the plan has been caught yet. The bad people did it from call centers in India.
Judge Jung said, “Below these people, I need my sentence to send a message.” “You’re hiding in a boiler room, but some of your guards are getting a very long sentence.”
His lawyer said Patel was involved in the plan for only about 60 days. He had nothing to do with setting up or planning the scam. He has followed the rule the rest of his life.
He went to college in his home country of India and got a degree in mechanical engineering. In 2018, he moved to the U.S. with his family. NJ was where they lived.
A sentencing letter says Patel tried to get a master’s degree at Marshall University in West Virginia but had to drop out because he couldn’t speak English well enough. Because he had trouble with speaking, it was hard for him to keep a job. In the past, he had short stints as a cashier at 7-Eleven, a software engineer at Bank of America, and a soil inspector for an engineering business.
His lawyer said he married an American woman but they split up because she started hitting him.
According to the letter, his time in the U.S. was marked by “one failure after another.” He turned into a “money mule” because he was broke.
In October 2023, he was offered a job that would require him to carry and pick up packages. He wasn’t told much else, but he found out that the bags held gold and money. How to get to the place to pick up the packages was sent to his phone through WhatsApp. He never met the person who told him what to do.
Someone would come out when he got there and put the package in the back of his car. After that, he would get more information about where to give it.
Patel got his airfare and hire car costs paid for by the company for each package. Patel only got $6,000 for his work, even though he helped remove more than $1.5 million from crime.
Court papers show that he knew he was part of a plot that was against the law. But he had no idea what it was about or how it was put together.
Patel wore an orange jail outfit to court on Tuesday. He heard what was being said through a translator who spoke Gujarati, which was his first language.
His dad, Bharat Patel, asked the judge to give him a lighter punishment. He told them that his mistake was caused by a bad friend. His son put his hands over his face while he talked.
In his own words, Pranav Patel told the court that he felt bad about what he did and promised to never do it again.
He spoke through a translator and said, “I came to the US for a better life.” “I’m sorry I spent the best years of my life this way.”
He said he didn’t know that what he did was making people unhappy.
The judge said that their pain went beyond the loss. They thought they would never fall for such a scam, but Patel took away their peace of mind.
Jung said, “You were an important part of the scheme. It was about as cold and nasty a scheme as I’ve ever seen.”
