Man Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Kidnapping of Woman, Child

A Southampton man who planned to kidnap a New Jersey woman and young daughter plead guilty in late February to charges of soliciting an individual to aid in a kidnapping.

When Jayen I. Patel, 41, of Southampton, is sentenced in federal court in June, he could face a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $125,000 fine. He is currently under house arrest and is being electronically monitored, authorities report.

The 41-year-old told prosecutors he contacted a man, who he thought was a white supremacist, on a social networking website and asked him to kidnap a woman and her young daughter. The white supremacist turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

Patel told the agent, he planned to take the woman and her daughter on behalf of the child’s father who wanted custody. Patel then told the contact, if he or his associates aided with the kidnapping of the woman and her child, they would be paid with money taken from the victim. He also stated the woman could be kept as a slave, according to information released by federal government.

Court documents show, Patel contacted the undercover federal agent through computers at the office he rented in Princeton, where he was taken into custody, and on laptops at the Verizon store where he was employed.

Patel plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson at federal court in Trenton.

The investigation and apprehension of Patel involved multiple federal and local law enforcement groups.

Click here for a copy of Patel's criminal indictment.