Woodbridge Man Charged With Sex Assault Of Teen Girl, Who He Met On Snapchat

JERSEY CITY, NJ — A Woodbridge man was charged with sexually assaulting a teen girl, 15, who prosecutors say he met on the social media platform Snapchat.

Tejas Patel, 46, of Woodbridge is charged with second-degree sex assault of a child and third-degree child endangerment. He is employed with the Hudson County Department of Family Services.

The crimes occurred in Jersey City on various dates in 2024 when the victim was 15 years old, said Hudson County Prosecutor Wayne Mello.

Patel was arrested Thursday by members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit. He was taken to the Hudson County Jail pending his first court appearance.

This is not his first arrest on child sex crimes: A man by that same name was arrested in 2017 after child pornography was discovered on his work computer. At the time, Patel was 36 and living in North Bergen. He worked for a nutritional company in Fairfield.

The computer was seized and a variety of images involving minors engaged in pornographic activity were discovered, police said at the time.