Andover Business Owner Pleads Guilty To Obstruction

BOSTON – An Andover man was convicted today for obstructing a grand jury investigation.

Kamlesh Patel, 48, of Andover pleaded guilty before United States District Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. to obstruction by destruction and alteration of documents in connection with a grand jury investigation.

Patel received a grand jury subpoena for records relating to his business dealings with another company and claims that this other company was a service-disabled veteran owned and operated business. Patel was aware that he had documents on his computer that were responsive to the subpoena and that were relevant to the pending investigation. Patel nonetheless deleted documents on his computer that were responsive to the grand jury subpoena.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 12, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. Patel faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the crime, whichever is greater.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Jeffrey G. Hughes, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office; Luis A. Hernandez, Special Agent in Charge of the General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations; Michael D. Conner, Resident Agent in Charge of U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Boston Fraud Resident Agency; Aaron Collins, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General; Robert Panella, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Labor Racketeering & Fraud Investigations, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara Miron Bloom and William Bloomer of Ortiz’s Office