It was the latest case of Stranger Danger — a man trying to snatch a toddler, this time from his mother’s arms. And in a Walmart!
The case last month ginned up immediate fear and outrage as these cases usually do. Mahendra Patel, 56, was arrested, jailed and charged with kidnapping. His sad-eyed mug shot was soon splashed all across TV and internet screens.
The ensuing comments online were unsurprisingly nasty. That Patel, a U.S. citizen, should be deported. That he won’t make it in the jail population. That he’s a “sicko,” a “creep” and that “somebody like this that would attempt something so brazen, doesn’t need to be let back out.”
So far, the cops haven’t let him out. He’s been in the Cobb County jail for nearly three weeks, with no end in sight.
But the case against him is showing large cracks and lapses of reality, says his attorney, along with the man’s friends and family.
On March 18, Caroline Miller was driving a motorized shopping cart for the disabled with her two young children when a man walked up the aisle and asked her where the Tylenol was. Then he allegedly tried to snatch her toddler son.
I’m naming her only because she was interviewed on camera, with her kids, by several TV stations. The cart becomes important later. Miller is not disabled and said she was only driving the buggy because her kids like to ride.
Credit: WSB-TV
Credit: WSB-TV
“When I pointed my arm out this way to point to the direction of where it was, that is when he reached down, put both of his hands on (her son), and grabbed him out of my lap,” she told WSB-TV.
“I’m like, ‘No, no, no, what are you doing? What are you doing?‘” Miller told the station. “He pulled him. I pulled him back. We’re tug-of-warring.”
Then the man backed off.
Horrifying. If true.
Child kidnapping cases are a parent’s worst fear. And incredibly rare. “Statistics” often tout that there are tens of thousands of child abductions each year. But a few years ago, a Justice Department study said there are perhaps 100 “stereotypical” child kidnappings a year — abductions by a stranger or a slight acquaintance of the family.
One hundred. And most of those are teenagers.
I spoke with Ashleigh Merchant, who is Patel’s attorney.
She said the case is nonsensical, that the Acworth Police Department “fudged” its arrest warrant and the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office is playing hardball to shut her up and keep Patel in jail.
The DA’s office declined to comment, calling the case “active.” The Acworth police spokesman would not comment on Merchant’s “interpretations” of the case, saying she “may not have access to all of the facts or evidence our investigators have obtained. ... As for (public) comments on our social media page, the Acworth Police Department does not control individual public responses.”
Merchant is the lawyer who torpedoed Fulton DA Fani Willis’ RICO case against Donald Trump when she discovered the DA’s special prosecutor on the case was also her boyfriend. She has also bumped heads with the Cobb DA’s office in several other cases.
She said the Patel case defies the imagination. She described him as a successful real estate investor, who is married to a doctor with two successful daughters. Why would he try to snatch a kid from a well-lit, guarded and videotaped Walmart right out of a mother’s arms, she asked.
Credit: Courtesy
Credit: Courtesy
On its Facebook page, Acworth police alleged that Patel “fled the area.”
Merchant described his “fleeing” this way: he wandered the store for 10 more minutes (according to police), bought the Tylenol with his own credit card and then talked to an employee before driving away.
“This is a guy in a hurry trying to hide?” she asked.
Merchant told me he simply asked the young woman where the Tylenol was and that when she stood up to show him, he thought one of her kids was going to fall. Patel believed the woman was disabled and needed help, according to Merchant.
When reached at her home Tuesday, Miller told me she had said enough already and that her “words get twisted around.”
Days earlier, WSB-TV called Miller after talking with Patel’s lawyer. Miller told the station she hopes that Patel’s explanation was true and, “I’m just going to leave it up to the people who are professionals at this to decide why and what to do next.”
Merchant said her client is “being crucified in the media.”
Here’s an example of the damage to Patel’s character: A TV station (not WSB) quoted a day care center operator who rents her building from Patel. “It’s heartbreaking because I never knew he was like that,” the day care owner said on TV.
Merchant contends the case was flawed from the start. She noted the Acworth police arrest warrant said Patel “did abduct and steal away” the child, which led to the felony kidnapping charge. However, both sides agree the kid never left mom’s arms; hence it’s not a “kidnapping.” That charge has been reduced to “attempted kidnapping.”
When Merchant publicized Patel’s story, the Cobb DA’s office fired back and filed a court motion trying to shut her up. It said the lawyer’s “extrajudicial statements” to the media have resulted “in harassment of the minor victim’s mother.”
The DA’s motion noted a couple Facebook comments about Miller. But the motion made no comment of the deluge of online animosity toward Patel that is still up on the Acworth police page.
The DA’s filing says “this court may enter a protective order denying, restricting or deferring discovery.” Meaning, the office wants to limit what Merchant can say publicly about what she learns. Or she may not even get information about the case anytime soon from the state.
She noted prosecutors have not yet let her view the Walmart security recording that should shed light on what really happened.
Patel was set for a probable cause hearing but the DA’s office obtained a quick indictment, which canceled that court appearance. Merchant said a bond hearing was scheduled for April 15, but that was suddenly canceled.
So, Patel remains in a Cobb jail cell.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
