Five Indian Americans have been charged with running a ring to engage in labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and harboring of aliens at several hotel locations across the Omaha metro area and into central Nebraska.
They were arrested after raids in the early morning hours of Aug. 12 on several hotels owned, operated and managed by them in the Omaha metro area, according to a press release from Lesley A. Woods, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska.
The accused are: Kentakumar Chaudhari, 36, of Elkhorn, NE; Rashmi Ajit Samani, 42, of Elkhorn, NE; Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari, 32, of Omaha; Amit Babubhai Chaudhari, 33, of Omaha; and Maheshkumar Chaudhari, 38, of Norfolk, NE.
Federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities executed search warrants at 14 business premises and two residential locations associated with the defendants on Aug 12, according to the release. Four of those premises were either hotels or motels, and the remaining businesses were “Brow and Lash” salons located in the Westroads Mall and at other Omaha metro area locations.
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During the operation, law enforcement officers rescued 10 minors from an alleged labor trafficking conspiracy that involved putting children under the age of twelve years old to work at the hotels for long hours with little to no pay. Seventeen adult victims were also rescued from the same conspiracy.
The complaint affidavit details the allegedly exploitative conditions these victims were subjected to while being required to pay the defendants for their lodging at the hotels. The lodging accommodations were unclean, unsafe, and unhealthy. Online reviews for the hotel locations detail the firsthand accounts of travelers who occupied the same locations briefly.
On one occasion, a source working with the federal government entered a hotel room where immigrant victims were sleeping on the floor of the room with cockroaches crawling on the victims as they slept.
Separately, the United States Attorney’s Office has alleged that one or more of the defendants were engaged in a sex trafficking conspiracy that allegedly victimized both minors and adults.
Sex trafficking was not only allowed at the hotels according to complaint affidavit allegations but also encouraged, protected from law enforcement detection, and sex trafficking victims at the hotels were subjected not only to the traditional perpetrators of a sex trafficking scheme but also to hotel management and employees victimizing them as well.
Beyond these allegations, multiple defendants are alleged to have maintained these hotels as premises to conduct drug trafficking freely. Drug traffickers allegedly received protection from law enforcement in the same manner in which human traffickers were also shielded by the hotel owners and managers.
Overdoses were a common problem, and at least one hotel had to keep Narcan at the front desk as a result. One source cited described a stairwell of one of the hotels as being littered with drug needles. Drug use was open and notorious in the parking lots according to eyewitnesses and to some online guest reviews.
At least one of the defendants is charged with a conspiracy to defraud the United States government by instigating a criminal scheme designed to obtain U visas under fraudulent circumstances.
Allegations in the complaint affidavits reveal that one hotel owner hired a worker at a hotel to stage a fictitious robbery of one of the Brow and Lash salons in 2022. The goal was to secure a U visa for one of the other defendants by making her a “victim” of the robbery.
The complaint further alleges one of the defendants engaged in conversations involving questions about what it would cost to bring someone from India to America and negotiating various prices.
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A number of hotel employees crossed the Arizona border several years ago and reported to Customs and Border Patrol they would be residing at one or more of the defendant’s hotels, thereby indicating those arrangements were made prior to entering the country illegally.
The complaint also alleges that aliens were being transported by co-conspirators between the State of Nebraska and the State of Washington for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining Washington state driver’s licenses for around $1,000 per identification document.
The various alleged conspiracies generated significant illegal proceeds, and as part of the operation, significant cash assets were seized to include more than $565,000 in U.S. currency that are alleged to be involved in money laundering. Also, seized during this operation was an undetermined amount illicit drugs that will be quantified as this investigation progresses.
“There is no evil greater than the evil that seeks to trap, oppress, and exploit human beings for profit or pleasure,” said Woods. “Where that evil exists, Nebraska law enforcement working together at the federal, state, and local levels, as occurred in this case, will seek it, find it, root it out, and ensure every rescued victim has an opportunity to obtain justice and freedom from their captors.”