3 min readUpdated: May 30, 2026 10:06 PM IST
A 27-year-old Indian national illegally residing in the United States has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after being convicted on two counts of sex trafficking of a minor, the US Department of Justice announced.
Kavankumar Patel, native of Gujarat, India, was sentenced on May 26, 2026, in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska. Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon imposed the sentence. After completing his prison term, Patel will serve a five-year period of supervised release. As Patel is in the United States illegally, he faces deportation upon completing his sentence, a press release by United States Attorney office, district Nebraska announced.
The investigation began on January 6, 2025, when Omaha Police Department officers responding to a theft report uncovered evidence of human trafficking. Members of the Homeland Security Task Force and local police subsequently rescued two underage girls, aged 15 and 16, who had been transported from out of state for the purpose of commercial sex.
The victims told investigators they were instructed to engage in sex acts with hotel employees in exchange for reduced room rates, with the threat that they would be removed from the hotel if they refused. Beyond that coercion, court documents reveal the victims felt trapped, reporting that they had minimal access to food and felt they had no choice but to comply with the traffickers’ demands.
Patel admitted to investigators that he took cash directly from the hotel’s front desk drawer to pay the traffickers. In exchange for the payments, hotel employees allowed the traffickers and the two minors to remain on the property for multiple days. While staying at the hotel, the traffickers used online advertisements to solicit clients and arrange commercial sex acts involving the underage victims.
US Attorney Lesley Woods commended the law enforcement efforts, stating that the Homeland Security Task Force successfully rescued the children from what she described as “a living nightmare.” The investigation was conducted by a multi-agency Homeland Security Task Force in coordination with the Omaha Police Department. Woods in her statement, says “The United States Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will never tire of working as hard as we need to work to protect the most vulnerable victims in our communities”.
In an official handle of HSI Kansas City on X, Kansas City Acting Special Agent in Charge, Rick Sabatini is quoted as saying, “This is an unacceptable crime that treats innocent children like a commodity to be purchased as a business transaction”.
