Indian-origin Yash Patel, a Riverside County sheriff's deputy, has been arrested in Jurupa Valley, California, on suspicion of sexual battery and false imprisonment while off-duty, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department announced.
The arrest took place earlier this month after the sheriff's Special Investigations Bureau looked into the allegations.
Patel began his employment with the sheriff's department in July 2021 and had recently been assigned to the Robert Presley Detention Center as a corrections deputy, authorities said.
Patel was placed on paid administrative leave pending an administrative investigation, according to the sheriff's department.
"The Riverside County Sheriff's Office holds its employees to the highest standards of professionalism and accountability. Allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly," the sheriff's department announced.
Patel was earlier named in a legal suit filed by the family members of inmates who died in the county's jails in 2022-2023. The suits alleged that the sheriff's department staff were not adequately trained to prevent or unwilling to effectively intervene in medical emergencies and inmate violence. One 41-year-old Robert Robinson died at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside within a day in 2022. This lawsuit named correctional officers Yash Patel, Joshua Faneuff and Florin Blaj as defendants.
