Pennsylvania Man Arrested, Charged for Soliciting Kidnapping of New Jersey Woman and Her Young Child

NEWARK, NJ—A Southampton, Pennsylvania man has been arrested and charged after allegedly seeking a team to execute the kidnapping of a New Jersey woman and her daughter, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced today.

Jayen I. Patel, 40, was taken into custody yesterday in Princeton, N.J., by special agents of the FBI pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the United States District Court in Newark. The federal criminal Complaint charging Patel with soliciting an individual for assistance with a kidnapping was unsealed today. Patel appeared this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court and was released on a $250,000 bond to house arrest with electronic monitoring.

According to the Complaint:

In September 2010, Patel reached out to an FBI agent acting in an undercover capacity (“the UC”) through an Internet-based social networking site. As the relationship between the UC and Patel developed, Patel identified a woman and her daughter whom he wished to have kidnapped, claiming that the child’s father wanted custody of the child. Patel described the “first stage” of the plan as involving making the victim do things “to make her loose [sic] custody of her child.”

Patel indicated that if the UC and his friends aided in the abduction, they would be paid from money they obtained from the victim and could also use her as a slave. Defendant Patel provided suggestions for supervising the child, restraining the mother with handcuffs, and knocking the mother unconscious if she resisted. Patel also provided the victims’ names and address, urging the UC to conduct surveillance on the victims to determine their schedules and how many people lived in the residence. He also gave instructions regarding the makeup of the group that should engage in the kidnapping.

If convicted of the charge, the defendant faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Fishman praised the outstanding work of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, as well as the other members of the Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). He also thanked the Oklahoma City FBI, Franklin Township Police Department, South Brunswick Police Department, and the Hopewell Township Police Department for their roles in the investigation. The JTTF is made up of agents and officers of the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, New Jersey State Police, Jersey City Police Department, Bayonne Police Department, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and other law enforcement agencies.

The government is represented by Assistant Unites States Attorney Philip James Degnan of the United States Attorney’s Office National Security Unit.

The charge and allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.