Dipen Patel may be jailed for a year.
An Indian American hotelier in Michigan, Dipen Patel, 34, will be sentenced to jail after he admitted to using illegal chemicals he got from India to eliminate bed bugs in his guest rooms.
Patel, of Dyer, pleaded guilty last Thursday in U.S District Court in Hammond to unlawful use of pesticides. The Class A misdemeanor offense could bring up to a one-year jail sentence and a $100,000 fine.
No sentencing date has been set, but the next hearing in the case is scheduled forNov. 21, according to court records, according to the South Bend Tribune.
Patel is the owner of Knights Inn at Michigan City and the manager at the Super 8 motel in Howe.
According to court documents, Patel brought Dichlorvos in his luggage on a flight from India to the United States and for close to a year, starting in February of 2014, gave it to his housekeeping staff for use in the guest rooms.
Patel allegedly instructed the employees to mix the chemical with water and apply it to carpeting, bedding and mattresses to rid the rooms of bed bugs, court documents revealed. Dichlorvos is a chemical nerve agent.
Research shows exposure to the pesticide can produce symptoms ranging from weakness, headache, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and, in higher amounts, convulsions and even death.
Twenty-nine rooms at Knights Inn and 27 rooms at Super 8 tested positive for Dichlorvos during a February 2015 inspection headed up by the Office of Indiana State Chemist, court records stated.
The rooms testing positive were condemned and Patel was ordered to replace bedding and mattresses and decontaminate all affected surfaces at his own cost.
In a release, the U.S. Attorney’s office said the product is not registered with the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, which is required for legal use.
According to OISC officials, the investigation stemmed from a complaint by a maintenance manager at the Knights Inn who reported becoming ill after handling the chemicals.
Earlier this year, a LaPorte landlord was fined $14,625 for illegally bringing Dichlorvos into the United States from China.
According to OISC officals, Zai Feng ”Kevin” Yang applied the pesticide at high levels to eliminate bed bugs and cockroaches then left some of the chemical with his tenants to perform follow-up applications.