The case against a hotel manager who allegedly asked a 16-year-old girl to have sex with him in return for a free room will move to a higher court.
Following testimony from the 16-year-old and her father, a judge certified a charge of solicitation of prostitution against Sunnykumar Patel, 31, Thursday in the Williamsburg-James City County General District Court.
Although defense attorney Tom Turbeville questioned the now 17-year-old teenager’s credibility because she has a juvenile criminal history and could not remember a specific timeline of the alleged incident, Judge Colleen Killilea said there was enough probable cause to move the case forward.
“What she does remember is that he said something that falls within this code [of Virginia] section,” Killilea said, referring to the Virginia code section on solicitation of prostitution.
A grand jury will hear the case’s evidence Sept. 20, then indict Patel if they believe there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial in circuit court. Patel, who was out on bail, came to court Thursday accompanied by a woman and a baby.
Police say Patel was working as the general manager for the America’s Best Inn and Suites, located at 1610 Richmond Road, between March 1 and Oct. 1, 2016 when he asked three separate women – one who was 16 years old – to have sex with him.
Police initially charged Patel with three counts of solicitation of prostitution, but the two charges stemming from the alleged incidents with the adult women were both dropped Thursday. Those charges will not proceed to trial unless new evidence comes to light.
A criminal complaint states the women “reported that the accused propositioned them for sex in exchange for either money or room rent while they were staying at the motel at which the accused in the manager.”
The teenage victim testified that she ran away from home in March 2016, got a job at a restaurant on Richmond Road, and started staying in a room at the motel where Patel worked. She said an older friend put their name on the room, but she paid for it.
The teenager said she lived at the motel for about a month, into April. Her father testified he and the girl’s mother did not know their daughter’s whereabouts at the time, and reported her missing to police.
The victim testified Patel, who she met while staying at the motel, called her “beautiful, sexy – stuff like that” and asked her to have sex with him “five or six” times.
Once during her stay, she said Patel came into her room while she was out and left condoms, beer and food for her, later asking if she received what he left for her.
Patel also came to her room several times while she was there, let himself in without asking permission, and asked what she was doing or to have sex, she said.
There was no lock on her door, her room was in the back of one of the motel buildings, and other nearby rooms were unoccupied, she said.
The victim confirmed in court Patel never exposed himself to her, touched her, or made her touch him.
After several interactions with Patel, the victim said she called her brother to pick her up because she was “freaked out and tired of it.”
She said she did not call police, but a Williamsburg Police investigator came to her months later and asked about her stay at the motel. She was “locked up” at Merrimac Juvenile Detention Center on Merrimac Trail at the time, she said.
Patel was arrested March 14, and later released on bail.
Fearing can be reached at 207-975-5459.
