Posted on 11/30/2007 6:07:37 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
(He put abortion pill in girlfriend's drink, complaint charges)
Appleton, WI - Two weeks after a 39-year-old pregnant Kaukauna woman watched her boyfriend frantically mix something in an ice cream smoothie and give it to her, she miscarried.
Suspicious of her boyfriend's actions, Darshana G. Patel didn't drink the smoothie, but she had consumed other food and drinks he had been preparing for her since she announced her pregnancy. Now, thinking her boyfriend might have had something to do with this miscarriage and a miscarriage she suffered last year, she had the smoothie tested and contacted Outagamie County sheriff's detectives.
A lab test showed the drink was laced with RU-486, also known as the abortion pill because it can induce miscarriages. After a search of Manishkumar M. Patel's home in Kaukauna found more RU-486 tablets, the well-to-do gas station and convenience store owner was charged Thursday with attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child and eight other charges. Darshana Patel and Manishkumar Patel are not related.
In what could be one of the first cases of its kind, Manishkumar Patel, the father of her 3-year-old son, is charged with trying to get rid of her fetus by slipping the abortion drug into her food and drinks, authorities say.
Manishkumar Patel is being held in the Outagamie County Jail after Court Commissioner Brian Figy, who called the accusations "devious, diabolical and deceiving," set bail at $750,000 and ordered him to surrender his passport. A preliminary hearing was set for Monday.
According to the criminal complaint, Manishkumar Patel, 34, told detectives that he contacted someone in India, where he lived until he immigrated to Wisconsin in 1999, about how to end a pregnancy. The person suggested the RU-486 pills, which Patel said he had shipped to him from India, where the drug is less restricted than in the United States, the complaint says.
Patel is married to another woman, but he has had a relationship with Darshana Patel at various times since 2001. Both are from India and share a common cultural background. Manishkumar Patel told detectives he was confident the fetus his girlfriend miscarried Sept. 30 was his and that having children was her idea, the complaint says.
He told investigators he "didn't need more babies" and said "I didn't want it" when detectives asked him about having another child with his girlfriend, the complaint says.
In arguing for a high cash bail, Assistant District Attorney Mark Schroeder said Manishkumar Patel has a green card to live and work in the United States, but he would be a risk to flee the country. Patel, who owns 14 gas stations, a hotel and other businesses in Wisconsin, estimated his net worth at $400,000, Schroeder said.
When Patel learned his girlfriend was pregnant, he moved in with her and made her meals and tea, said Outagamie County Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Shortess.
"That was the only time he seemed interested in her, when he thought she was pregnant," Shortess said.
Shortess and sheriff's Sgt. Ryan Carpenter described Manishkumar Patel as manipulative and controlling of Darshana Patel, who bought the home her boyfriend was living in with his wife. Darshana Patel, who is a family physician, also purchased vehicles for Manishkumar Patel.
Darshana Patel had miscarriages in December 2006 and September. The pregnancy was 15 weeks along in the first miscarriage and five to seven weeks in the second miscarriage. Other charges
In addition to attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, Manishkumar Patel was charged Thursday with second-degree reckless endangerment, placing foreign objects in food, delivery and possession of prescription drugs, stalking, burglary and possession of burglary tools, all felonies, and two misdemeanor counts of violating a restraining order that his girlfriend obtained against him.
Schroeder said attempted homicide charges were filed, rather than homicide, because the current evidence supports that charge. The case is ongoing, and more charges could be filed if additional evidence is found, he said. During Thursday's court hearing, Patel sat next to his attorney and held up his hands to partially shield his face from news cameras.
Defense attorney Thomas Zoesch said Patel denies all of the charges.
Darshana Patel became pregnant in August and told authorities Manishkumar Patel promised he would commit to her and they could live anywhere they wanted, the complaint says. She said he became attentive after learning she was pregnant and occasionally made meals for her at her home. On Sept. 17, she and Patel, with their son, went to dinner and stopped at an ice cream shop in Appleton for dessert.
According to the complaint, while she stayed in the car, Manishkumar Patel went to buy her a smoothie. She said she saw him through the window of the store, splitting the smoothie into two cups and stirring one cup frantically before giving it to her. She said she had an upset stomach and couldn't drink it, and when their son asked to drink it, Patel told him he could not, the complaint says.
The woman later looked in the cup and found powder in the smoothie, the complaint says. She took it to her office, refrigerated it and bought an identical one to put in her refrigerator. She noticed Patel later removed that smoothie from her refrigerator, she thinks, because he thought it was the smoothie he had given her, the complaint says.
On Sept. 30, the woman miscarried. A week later, she sent samples of the smoothie to a California lab, which confirmed the smoothie tested positive for mifepristone, or RU-486, the complaint says. She went to authorities Nov. 1, and more tests were done, which led to Thursday's charges.
And how can he be charged with a HOMICIDE if a child in the womb is simply a glob of cells, inhuman?
What gives? *SMIRK*
The left should give this guy a medal...
So what is an abortion in WI?
I can never keep this straight - is it a blob of tissue or a baby...?
Well, it’s a lot nicer than tyin’ her to a tree, and hittin’ her with a ball bat, ain’t it? ............................. FRegards
Ouch. Nailed it.
Frankly I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Man knocks up girlfriend and is on hook for 20 years or more of child support. So he feels trapped and does something like this. Not that I don’t believe this is a crime and shouldn’t be prosecuted, just surprised it doesn’t happen more often.
feticide is a long established crime.
“So what is an abortion in WI?”
It’s a woman’s RIGHT to kill her own child, but it’s not alright for someone else to kill her child.
Don’t you read the Constitution? It’s plain as day. SCOTUS tells us so. *BIG SMIRK* :)
Mayhap is one of the few that get caught?
And we're still letting in these freaks.
Bet they were all liberals.
Since it wasn’t “alive”, she didn’t “lose” anything. < /sarcasm >
WOW! Fingers do your thing:
Mayhap is one of the few that get caught? Should be:
Mayhap this is one of the few that got caught?
This has to cover multiple moral absolutes.
That’s OK, Doc. You get Bonus Freeper Points for knowing how to use the word “mayhap” correctly in a sentence. (One of my all-time favorite, underused words!)
She miscarried two weeks after drinking the smoothie, and she has a history of miscarriages? I think she will have a difficult time proving it was the RU-486 which caused the miscarriage. OTOH she may be lucky for having the miscarriage, if RU 486 could cause damage to the fetus.
Um, isn't that when you're supposed to say, "Hey, look over there!" and switch drinks real fast?
LOL! I will use the Bonus Freeper Points wisely. Perchance, to curry favor with dissenters?
Ear/eye candy! “Perchance!” “Curry!” “Dissenters!”
Stop it now, I’m starting to swoon, LOL! :)
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