LAKE CITY, Fla. — A man from Frisco, Texas, was arrested Thursday as part of an undercover Internet Crimes Against Children operation in Lake City, marking the sixth arrest connected to the investigation in a single week, police said.
Siddharth Sunil Kumar Patel was taken into custody May 14 by detectives with the Lake City Police Department assigned to the ICAC Task Force. He was transported to the Columbia County Detention Center following his arrest.
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Detectives initiated contact with Patel after posting undercover advertisements on a website commonly used to arrange sexual encounters. While posing as teenage girls, detectives engaged with multiple individuals.
Patel allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with those he believed to be minors before arranging to travel to Lake City to meet what he believed was an underage person for a sexual encounter. He was taken into custody without incident upon arriving in the area.
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“Protecting children from individuals who use the internet to prey on minors remains one of our highest priorities,” Lake City Police Chief Gerald Butler said. “These investigations are proactive efforts to identify dangerous offenders before a child becomes a victim.”
Butler credited ICAC detectives and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office for their partnership in the operation and said additional arrests are anticipated as the investigation continues.
Anyone with information regarding a crime is encouraged to contact the Lake City Police Department at (386) 752-4343, the LCPD TIPS line at (386) 719-2068, or Crime Stoppers of Columbia County at (386) 754-7099.
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