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Pritkumar Patel, who recently attended Berkeley College, remained held Thursday in the Bergen County Jail pending a detention hearing.
He's charged with:
- Cyber harassment by sending or posting obscene material with the intent to harm or cause fear;
- Criminal coercion through the threat of exposure or ridicule (blackmail);
- Extortion;
- Child endangerment by storing and/or maintaining child pornography;
- Sexual conduct (not physical contact) involving a minor.
Detectives from the NJSP Crimes Against Children Unit took Patel into custody assisted by State Police tactical and K9 units, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and Closter police at 6 a.m. Wednesday, NJSP Lt. Theodore Schafer said.
Seized from Patel's home near the corner of High and Perry streets were various computers, cellphones and storage devices, Schafer said.
Patel, an Indian national, last winter made the Dean's List and this spring the President's List at Berkeley College.
He recently was enrolled in the Information Technology Management program in its School of Business, according to the college's website.
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ALSO SEE: A 23-year-old Northvale electrician created a bogus identity to have online sex chats with two underage girls whom he convinced to send him nearly two dozen “nude or sexually explicit” photos of themselves, authorities charged.
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