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Hotel owner charged with sexual battery, unauthorized entry into customer’s room
CLOVERDALE — Accused of entering a woman’s rented room as she slept and trying to get her to engage in sexual acts, a Cloverdale hotel owner is facing two felonies.
Depenbhai Patel, 37, owner of the Cloverdale Days Inn, is alleged to have entered the woman’s room at the hotel on the evening of Oct. 20, at which time she said touched her and tried to get her to grant him sexual favors. She also said he forced her to smoke from a glass pipe believed to have contained cocaine.
The Putnam County Prosecutor’s Office has formally charged Patel with Level 6 felony sexual battery and Level 6 felony residential entry.
The alleged victim told Cloverdale Deputy Marshal Brad Magnuson she had rented a room in the hotel at 1031 N. Main St. (U.S. 231) earlier that evening. At around 8:30 p.m., she was asleep in the room when Patel allegedly used his “master pass key” to enter the room without her knowledge before sitting on the bed next to her.
She woke up and tried to make him leave.
During the course of their initial encounter, the woman said Patel requested she “please him,” even offering money, as well as insisting she “smoke cola” from his glass pipe and leaving the sleeping area for the bathroom after she told him she did not feel comfortable with him touching himself.
She also said he tried several times to place his hands under her sleepwear, touching the bare skin of her stomach.
A friend of the victim’s, who said something similar had happened to her several years ago at the Days Inn, arrived on the scene and helped get Patel to leave.
However, the woman said Patel returned less than 20 minutes later, only to find the door stopped by the locked hasp. She said he then forced entry, causing substantial damage to the doorframe.
The victim said she was locked in the bathroom at this time and Patel left only after banging on the door for more than 10 minutes.
At this point, fearing further incident, she called the police.
Based on information gathered from the victim, Magnuson attempted to contact Patel at the front desk, but his wife said she did not know where he was.
The police subsequently obtained a warrant for the security footage from the hotel. While Marshal Steve Hibler was serving the warrant, the wife received a call from Patel, asking to speak to the police officer in the hotel. During this call, Hibler said Patel made some self-incriminating statements, even though the marshal had not mentioned any potential charges against him.
Patel agreed to meet with police the following morning, but did not show.
The case was turned over to the Putnam County Prosecutor’s Office, which formally filed charges in Putnam Superior Court on Thursday, Oct. 22.
A warrant was issued for Patel’s arrest, and Cloverdale officers took him into custody on Monday, booking him in the Putnam County jail at 11:40 a.m.
Patel made his initial appearance before Judge Denny Bridges on Tuesday, entering a not guilty plea.
Patel has a history of criminal charges in Putnam County, including a 2016 domestic battery and strangulation case for which he entered the pre-trial diversion program, as well as a 2012 guilty plea for trafficking with an inmate.
The other charges in his history tend to revolve around traffic offenses, including driving while intoxicated and driving as a habitual traffic violator.