Wealthy NY Couple Charged With Slavery

[n2doc]

Wealthy NY Couple Charged With Slavery
By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 23, 2007


(05-23) 17:27 PDT Garden City, N.Y. (AP) --
A millionaire couple accused of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves in their luxurious Long Island home and abusing them for years have been indicted on federal slavery charges.
Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, operate a worldwide perfume business out of their home, contracting with overseas factories to manufacture the fragrances.
The two were arrested last week after one of their servants was found wandering outside a doughnut shop on Long Island, wearing only pants and a towel. The woman was believed to have fled the home in Muttontown, a tony community on Long Island's north shore, when she took the trash out the night before.
The couple pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court, and a magistrate judge set bail at $3.5 million and imposed home detention with electronic monitoring.
An indictment handed up Tuesday night formally charged with them with two counts of forced labor and added two counts of harboring illegal residents.
Charles A. Ross, who represents Varsha Sabhnani, has said that the couple traveled extensively and that the two Indonesian women were free to leave whenever they wished. He previously described them as "model citizens" who "only want to clear their names."
Friends and relatives indicated the two would be willing to post bail, but as of Wednesday, they remained in custody.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Demitri Jones called the allegations "truly a case of modern-day slavery."

more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/05/23/national/a140429D86.DTL

Bush's base in action....

[theoldman]

1. I'll bet it was just a misunderstanding.

The slaves won't collect a dime but at least they are free.

[rucky]

2. There was an episode of SVU just like this. n/t

[porphyrian]

3. Blame the illegal immigrants!

They were obviously here to take slave jobs from Americans.

[undergroundpanther]

4. Rich pigs

.
Yeah I hate wealthy people who think this sort of shit is ok.
That others without money exist to be used and exploited.