(Editor’s note: The following article involves alleged sex crimes against minors.)
A now-former Oklahoma State University associate vice president told an undercover Broken Arrow Police Department officer he has had three sexual relationships with girls between ages 13 and 16, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Oklahoma County District Court.
Pratul Agarwal, 51, was arrested Friday by the Edmond Police Department for attempting to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Officers with BAPD had encountered a person they say was Agarwal through an illicit website, and that person sent lewd pictures and articulated specific sexual desires that would constitute rape of a minor.
Agarwal was hired by OSU as an assistant vice president of research in 2019, and he became an associate VP of research in 2023. The founder of two companies whose work has been published more than 90 times, Agarwal is “a scientist and an engineer developing solutions for problems that intersect the domains of data, computing, biology and chemistry,” according to his LinkedIn. He has published on topics ranging from COVID-19 surge prediction to DNA synthesis.
“Because this is an ongoing investigation, the institution cannot provide additional comment regarding the case,” said Mack Burke, OSU associate director of media relations.
Burke said he could not specify how Agarwal’s employment at OSU ended, but he emphasized that the vice president of research was a “staff” member and not a tenured professor. Burke said Agarwal taught “one class” that constituted “40 minutes or something, and he did it on Zoom.”
“He was never a professor, really. He was always adjunct,” Burke said Wednesday. “He was not teaching courses. He was not the instructor of record on any course.”
Thursday morning, Burke offered an additional statement of appreciation for law enforcement efforts in the case.
“Though his role was not regularly student-facing, that contextual note does not diminish the extremely troubling nature of these allegations,” Burke said. “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the alleged victims and the community. We are thankful for the dedicated efforts of law enforcement agencies and will continue to cooperate and offer full support for their investigation.”
During his six years at OSU, Agarwal saw his company, Arium BioLabs LLC, have four patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Agarwal founded Arium Biolabs while working for the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
According to Oklahoma state payroll data, Agarwal received a monthly salary of $17,085. In a now-deleted article published in 2022 profiling Agarwal, Agarwal was referred to as a “professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences at Oklahoma State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.” In addition to the 2022 profile, Agarwal’s online directory page and at least two other articles featuring him have been deleted from OSU’s website. One such article celebrated $4 million in funding from the National Science Foundation to develop a new supercomputer. The article is still available elsewhere.
Agarwal worked as chief technology and science officer at the Oklahoma Pandemic Center for Innovation and Excellence from May 2021 to January 2023, according to LinkedIn. Launched in 2020, the center was billed as the “next generation of public health response,” but it dissolved amid questions over the relocation of the Department of Health laboratory.
According to his LinkedIn, Agarwal graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi with a degree in biochemical engineering and biotechnology in 1997. He later received two doctoral degrees in computational biochemistry and biophysics — one from Pennsylvania State University and another from the University of Notre Dame, according to his LinkedIn. Prior to joining Oklahoma State’s staff, he worked at the University of Tennessee and was a senior scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory.
Andrew Worrall, the now-former director of nuclear energy programs at Oak Ridge, was also recently arrested for child sex crimes, according to NBC affiliate WBIR.
Affidavit outlines Pratul Agarwal conversations
Detectives with EPD’s Crimes Against Children Unit arrested Agarwal, according to a Facebook post by the department. Investigators received information from BAPD that Agarwal had solicited minors online for “lewd photographs” and attempted to “arrange in-person meetings.” Agarwal was arrested under suspicion of:
- one count of soliciting sexual conduct with a minor;
- one count of violation of the Computer Crimes Act;
- and two counts of lewd acts with a child under 16.
The investigation into Agarwal is ongoing, Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office director of communications Brook Arbeitman said.
Filed by EPD detective Jason Kushmaul, the affidavit of probable cause says Broken Arrow Police Department detective Chris Pellegrino was operating undercover in an online chatroom posing as a 14-year-old girl and messaged a profile that said they were 44 years old in Oklahoma.
Investigators later discovered data indicating Agarwal was behind the “DrkMster” profile. The conversation moved from the chatroom to texting after Pellegrino’s persona told Agarwal she was 14. Agarwal asked, “you like older guys?”
According to the affidavit, Agarwal sent two photos of a penis to Pellegrino while texting and said he has had sexual relationships with “three teenagers, ages ’14, 16, 13,'” and that he met “one of them on the website” and “the other two were in his neighborhood.”
“Yes I like teen girls, and I like chatting with them,” Agarwal wrote, according to the affidavit. “They are cute, they talk nice, love their soft bodies.”
Agarwal also explicitly described sex acts he said he likes to perform on minors.
Agarwal also directed the detective to delete their conversations and said he deletes the conversations from his phone and work computer, according to the affidavit. While texting, Pellegrino said Agarwal sent 23 photos of adults having sex.
Throughout the conversation, Pellegrino maintained his undercover identity as a 14-year-old Broken Arrow student named “Maddy” and emulated the style of texting a student that age might employ. As Agarwal pursued a meeting, investigators gauged Agarwal’s legitimacy.
“And u are 4 real with this or is this just a fantasy roleplay over texting??” Pellegrino messaged.
“I am real,” Agarwal replied, according to the affidavit.
On Sept. 18, Agarwal called a female officer who was posing as “Maddy.” During the phone call, Agarwal said the photos he had sent were not of him and later sent a photo that he claimed was actually him. Investigators used a reverse image search of the photo to find an article about Agarwal, according to the affidavit. A subpoena to Google for records related to the phone number Agarwal had been using to contact the undercover office revealed further links to Agarwal. Beyond “facial recognition, Google and Verizon search warrant results,” investigators also used photos Agarwal had sent of his vehicle to identify him.
On Monday, EPD public information officer Emily Ward said the department would not be releasing further details during the investigation.
(Update: This article was updated at 11:10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, to include an additional comment from Mack Burke.)
