{"id":73192,"date":"2026-11-13T02:32:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T08:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=73192"},"modified":"2026-11-13T02:32:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T08:32:44","slug":"nisswa-ex-hotel-owner-faces-labor-trafficking-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/nisswa-ex-hotel-owner-faces-labor-trafficking-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Nisswa Ex-Hotel Owner Faces Labor Trafficking Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

NISSWA, Minn.<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A former Nisswa hotel owner faces two felony charges after allegedly forcing a woman to work against her will.<\/p>\n

Vijay Kumar Ramanbhai Patel, 52, of Deerwood, Minnesota, was charged Tuesday, November 10, 2026, in Crow Wing County District Court.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors charged Patel with felony labor trafficking and felony threats of violence. The allegations involve a woman from Guyana who traveled to Minnesota in July 2024.<\/p>\n

Free Vacation Offer Leads to Hotel Work<\/h2>\n

According to the criminal complaint, the woman was visiting family in New York City when she saw an advertisement.<\/p>\n

The advertisement offered a free trip to Nisswa, Minnesota. The woman purchased a plane ticket after receiving assurances she would be reimbursed.<\/p>\n

She arrived in Minnesota around July 28, 2024, and was taken to Nisswa Inn and Suites.<\/p>\n

Hotel staff told her to rest before reporting for work the following morning. She told investigators she did not understand she was expected to work.<\/p>\n

The next morning, a manager allegedly instructed her to begin vacuuming and cleaning hotel rooms.<\/p>\n

The woman also described meeting Patel, who allegedly directed her to pick up items from the floor.<\/p>\n

She said she could not see anything that needed cleaning.<\/p>\n

Woman Claims She Was Held Against Her Will<\/h2>\n

The complaint alleges Patel later demanded nude photographs and began sending threatening messages.<\/p>\n

The woman repeatedly asked to return to her family, saying she was being forced to work without compensation.<\/p>\n

Investigators received screenshots of messages exchanged between the woman and Patel.<\/p>\n

In one exchange, the woman said she was being held against her will and wanted to go home.<\/p>\n

Patel allegedly responded that she had come to work for him and must remain at the hotel.<\/p>\n

Death Threats Allegedly Sent in Messages<\/h2>\n

The woman eventually threatened to contact police about her treatment at the hotel.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Patel responded with a threat to kill her if she reported the situation.<\/p>\n

The woman eventually managed to leave the hotel.<\/p>\n

However, investigators allege Patel continued sending threatening and abusive messages afterward.<\/p>\n

One message allegedly described the woman as someone he had employed as a slave.<\/p>\n

Other messages allegedly contained threats of sexual assault and murder.<\/p>\n

The woman reported the situation to a Crow Wing County Sheriff’s investigator on September 13, 2024.<\/p>\n

Other Immigrant Workers Mentioned<\/h2>\n

The woman also told investigators that other immigrant women at the hotel had experienced similar abuse.<\/p>\n

Those claims were included in the criminal complaint. The extent of any additional investigation was not detailed in the provided report.<\/p>\n

The hotel was sold in July 2025, according to property records cited by FOX 9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Felony Charges and Upcoming Court Hearing<\/h2>\n

Patel was charged by summons and was not in custody when the charges were reported.<\/p>\n

His first court appearance is scheduled for December 7, 2026, according to the original report.<\/p>\n

Minnesota law addresses labor trafficking under Section 609.282<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The state’s threats of violence law<\/a> addresses threats intended to terrorize another person.<\/p>\n

Readers can learn more about public court documents through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The allegations have not been proven in court. Patel is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A former Nisswa hotel owner faces two felony charges after allegedly forcing a woman to work against her will.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Nisswa hotel owner Vijay Patel faces felony labor trafficking and threats charges after a woman claims she was forced to work and threatened in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[23386,32207],"trf_mt_town":[],"trf_mt_county":[],"trf_mt_topic":[29493],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-73192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-sexual-assault","tag-vijay-kumar-ramanbhai-patel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73211,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73192\/revisions\/73211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=73192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}