Prosecutors dropped a solicitation of prostitution charge against a Williamsburg motel manager after a witness was not available to testify at his trial.
Sunnykumar Patel, 31, of Williamsburg was scheduled for a two-hour trial Wednesday in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court, according to online court records.
Instead of taking the case to trial, prosecutors nolle prossed, or withdrew, the charge against him.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green said the charge was dropped because a “necessary witness” was not available for court.
Green said nolle prossing the charge is “a process that is without prejudice” and allows prosecutors to bring back the charge in the future.
According to police reports, Patel was working as the general manager for the America’s Best Inn and Suites, 1610 Richmond Road, between March 1 and Oct. 1, 2016, when he asked three women – one of whom was 16 – 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 dropped in July 2017.
The charge Patel faced in court Wednesday stemmed from the alleged incident with the 16-year-old.
A criminal complaint says 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.”
At a preliminary hearing in July, 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. 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 said Patel called her “beautiful, sexy – stuff like that” and asked her to have sex with him “five or six” times.
Once during her stay, the teen said, Patel came into her room while she was out and left condoms, beer and food for her. She said he later asked if she received what he left for her.
Patel also came to her room several times while she was there, let himself in and asked what she was doing or to have sex, she said.
There was no lock on the door to her room, which was in the back of one of the motel buidings, and other rooms nearby were unoccupied, the teen said.
The victim confirmed Patel never exposed himself, 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.”
The teen said she did not call police, but a Williamsburg Police investigator approached her months later while she was in juvenile detention and asked about her stay at the motel.
During the preliminary hearing in July, Patel’s attorney Tom Turbeville questioned the now 17-year-old’s credibility because she has a juvenile criminal history and could not remember a specific timeline of the alleged incident.
Patel was arrested March 14, 2017, and later released on bail.
WYDaily archives were used in this story.
