An Indian national has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a sex trafficking operation operating out of a Nebraska hotel, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Kavankumar Patel, a 27-year-old resident of Gujarat, India, was sentenced in a Nebraska federal court after admitting to paying human traffickers to assault a minor. Patel was employed at the AmericInn hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, where the crimes took place in January 2025.
The investigation began on January 6, 2025, when Omaha Police Department officers responding to a local theft report uncovered evidence of human trafficking. Members of the Homeland Security Task Force and local police subsequently rescued two underage girls, ages 15 and 16, who had been transported from out of state for the purpose of commercial sex.
As per a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, the victims told investigators that their traffickers forced them into compliance by withholding food and threatening them with eviction from the hotel.
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Federal prosecutors stated that hotel staff exploited the victims’ situation to secure sex acts in exchange for lodging.
“The two minor females reported that their traffickers had instructed that the minors must engage in sex with hotel staff for a reduced room rate or they would be kicked out of the hotel,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Two hotel employees paid the trafficker to have sex with one of the minors, and a third hotel employee had sex with the other minor.”
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. Court documents emphasize that 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.
In addition to his 10-year prison sentence, Kavankumar Patel faces deportation from the United States upon his release, federal authorities confirmed. Court records indicate that Patel was residing in the country illegally at the time of his arrest.
The investigation has also led to federal charges against multiple other individuals implicated in the hotel-based trafficking operation.
Two other hotel employees of Indian national, identified as Sumit Chaudhari and Vishal Goswami, face charges for their alleged involvement in the scheme alongside Patel.
Furthermore, federal prosecutors have charged three suspected traffickers such as Eduardo Jose Perdomo, Michel Martinez-Gonzalez, and Alfredo Zambrano-Hurtado, for their roles in transporting the minors across state lines and operating the illicit commercial sex ring out of the Omaha lodging facility.