Indian American convicted in 2019, arrested for allegedly trying to flee country after sentencing

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An Illinois man, who previously lived in Massachusetts, was charged in federal court in Worcester with contempt after attempting to flee the United States.

Ashokkumar Patel, a/k/a “Andy” Patel, 31, of Bartlett, Illinois, and formerly of Worcester and Plainville, Mass., was indicted on one count of contempt for trying to leave the U.S., a Nov. 12, 2020 press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

According to court records, Patel was convicted in June 2019 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. As part of that case, Patel was released from custody pending sentencing, and was subject to court-ordered conditions of release which included, among other things, that his travel was restricted to Massachusetts, as well as parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

In September 2020, Patel was sentenced to 40 months in prison and ordered to self-report to the Bureau of Prisons on Nov. 3, 2020.

It is alleged that on Oct. 15, 2020, Patel was encountered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a ditch in an area of blueberry fields in Canada, just over the Washington state border.  Patel was returned to the United States and arrested. For this latest indictment Patel is innocent until proved guilty. But his previous sentence remains operative.

Patel faces a sentence of up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine on the latest contempt charge plus up to an additional year in prison for committing this offense while on release, which must be served consecutive to any sentence he receives for contempt, the press release said.