Asheville business owner faces child pornography charges in federal court

Anuj Dineshkumar Patel, 35, was arrested on Dec. 6 following his indictment three days before, according to online court documents with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Patel is the president and manager of TekPatel LLC, an Asheville-based telecom and computer repair and sales company, according to the company’s annual report submitted to the North Carolina Secretary of State and obtained by the Citizen Times.

He faces the following charges, according to his bill of indictment:

• Eight counts of knowingly distributing child pornography “that has been shipped and transported in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce by any means, including by computer.”
• Two counts of receiving and attempting to receive child pornography.
• Producing child pornography by knowingly persuading, inducing and enticing an individual under 18 years old to engage in a sexual activity.
• Employed, used, persuaded, induced and enticed a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct, which was then transported and transmitted through interstate and foreign commerce.
• And “knowingly possessed and accessed with intent to view any material that contained an image of child pornography” that “involved a prepubescent minor.”