By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 24, 7:58 AM ET



GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - 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.

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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."

The women, prosecutors said, were subjected to beatings, had scalding water thrown on them and were forced to repeatedly climb stairs as punishment for perceived misdeeds. In one case, prosecutors said, one of the women was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at one time.

One of the women also told authorities they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen and were fed so little, they had to steal food.

The women legally arrived in the United States on B-1 visas in 2002; the Sabhnanis then confiscated their passports and refused to let them leave their home, authorities said. Identified in court papers as Samirah and Nona, the women said they were promised payments of $200 and $100 a month, but federal prosecutors said they were never given money directly. One of the victims' daughters living in Indonesia was sent $100 a month, prosecutors said.

They have since been cared for by Catholic Charities, according to a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

To say "slavery still exists in America" is kind of a misnomer, just an isolated incident.

Modern slavery thriving in the U.S.

By Janet Gilmore, Media Relations | 23 September 2004

BERKELEY – Washington, D.C. - A new report on forced labor in the United States reveals in disturbing detail how individuals in communities across the country are forced through threats or violence to work in deplorable conditions for little or no pay.

The report, "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States," describes for the first time the nature and scope of modern-day slavery in America.

Released during a news conference in Washington, D.C., today (Thursday, Sept. 23), the report was conducted by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley's Human Rights Center and the Washington D.C.-based, anti-slavery group Free the Slaves.
Laurel Fletcher (Jim Block photo)

Forced labor occurs in at least 90 cities across the United States, the researchers found, and at any given time, 10,000 or more people are forced to toil in sweat shops, clean homes, labor on farms, or work as prostitutes or strippers.

"The most shocking aspect of this report is that modern-day slavery still exists," said Laurel Fletcher, a researcher at the Human Rights Center and professor at UC Berkeley's law school. "Slavery is a problem the public thinks we solved long ago, but, in fact, it's alive and well. It has simply taken on a new form."

And the form of slavery will continue to change, said Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves. "It is important to remember that slavery is a crime and that criminals are always looking for new ways to exploit people."

Cases documented in the report include a Berkeley, Calif., businessman who enslaved young girls and women for sex and to work in his restaurant; a Florida employer who threatened violence to force hundreds of Mexican and Guatemalan workers to harvest fruit; and two couples in Washington, D.C., who brought Cameroonian teenagers to the United States with the promise of a better education and then forced them to work 14 hours a day as domestic servants, without pay and under the threat of deportation.

Among the report's major findings:
* While forced labor exists across the United States, reported cases are concentrated in states with large immigrant communities, including California, Florida, New York and Texas.

* Victims of forced labor are trafficked into the United States from at least 38 different countries, with China, Mexico and Vietnam topping the list. Some are born in the United States and later held captive.

* Forced labor occurs in poorly regulated industries with a high demand for cheap labor - sweatshops, restaurants and hotels, in addition to agriculture and domestic work. A lack of official monitoring in these areas means unscrupulous employers and criminal networks can gain complete control over workers.

* Forty-six percent of those trapped in forced labor in America are found in prostitution and sex services, the study estimates. Another 27 percent are domestic workers, and one in 10 works in agriculture. These victims are spread across the economy - sweatshop/factory work makes up 5 percent; restaurant and hotel work makes up 4 percent. Sexual exploitation of children represents 3 percent.

The new study documents how modern slavery operates in the United States. Perpetrators use a range of crimes - fraud, coercion, physical and psychological violence - to hold their victims captive. They confiscate passports and threaten to turn their captives over to the authorities if they refuse to obey. In some cases, perpetrators and their associates threaten or physically attack the families of victims in their home countries.
Eric Stover (Jane Scherr photo)

"Victims may be verbally abused, beaten or sexually assaulted by their captors," said Eric Stover, director of the Human Rights Center and faculty member at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. "These repeated attacks, especially against children and teenagers, can result in serious physical and psychological trauma."
Even if victims can escape, they often fear leaving because they do not speak English, are unfamiliar with U.S. currency, and are unsure of how to use local transport.

In a strange land, victims can grow dependent on their captors, if only to survive.

According to Bales, "The lack of public awareness of slavery in America makes this report very important. People are literally living next door to slaves without knowing it."

New federal laws have been passed to combat these crimes, but the researchers found that much more needs to be done - especially at the local level. Police officers, rather than federal agents, are most likely to encounter forced labor but often mistake it for illegal immigration and treat victims as part of a criminal enterprise.

The researchers recommend launching a broad-based public awareness campaign; improving monitoring of industries vulnerable to forced labor; increasing training and coordination among law enforcement officials in the United States; and strengthening protections for survivors of forced labor.

The study was conducted by researchers from Free the Slaves and from the Human Rights Center, which collaborates closely with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights also assisted with the research.

The report covers the period of 1998 to 2003 and is based on quantitative and qualitative data, including a survey of 49 service providers experienced in forced labor cases; an analysis of 131 cases of forced labor reported in U.S. newspapers; eight case studies of forced labor in various regions of the United States; and interviews with government officials, service providers and labor advocates. Copies of the "Hidden Slaves" report will be available online at: www.hrcberkeley.org and www.freetheslaves.net.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/09/23_16691.shtml

Child Sex Slaves in America
Tuesday - November 29, 2005 by Sadiqa Glenn
It's the ultimate price to pay for the American Dream. Thousands of children from other countries, many of them orphans and refugees, come to America to find a better living. They are promised an education or a good job, only to find out that they have been brought or sent to America to work as sex slaves.

According to The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), an estimated one million children worldwide, mostly teenage girls, are coerced into this multi-billion dollar industry every year. The younger children are often abducted or sold into sex rings throughout the U.S.

In southern California, there have been reports of trafficking girls across the Mexican-American border. Many victims are abandoned by their families or sold for as much as $400. Once they enter the U.S., several people are involved with transporting the victims to the brothels where they will work for little or no pay. Traffickers will tell the girls that they have to work in order to repay their travel expenses to America.

On the east coast, a Plainfield, NJ house was raided in February 2002. According to the article New York Times Magazine's "The Girls Next Door," four Mexican girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were found inside the house. The girls were not prostitutes; they were slaves being held captive by traffickers, forced to work under harsh conditions without pay.

Not all sex slaves are part of a complex sex ring; some are kidnapped by people looking to make easy money. Recently, there was a 15-year-old runaway found in Phoenix who was forced into being a sex slave. On November 10, two teens were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and forcing the girl to work as a sex slave. The suspects, 19 year-old Janelle Butler and Matthew Gay, allegedly sold the girl over the internet and made her stay in a small dog cage for weeks, while they made money selling her for sex.

It is difficult for U.S. authorities to capture traffickers because most victims are afraid to report what is happening. Traffickers will threaten to kill the girls or kill their families if they try to tell anyone or escape from the sex ring. Corrupt police, immigration officials, organized crime groups and gangs make human trafficking possible. Corruption on both sides of the border is another factor that makes it difficult to target and end sex rings in America.

With awareness comes change and there are several organizations involved with raising awareness on child exploitation and putting an end to child sex trafficking in the U.S. and worldwide.

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is an organization that aims at raising awareness amongst young adults about human rights issues. Human trafficking is one of the major issues they are advocates for. They have held panel discussions in California with representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice present to discuss solutions to this issue.

http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/7931

To say "slavery still exists in America" is kind of a misnomer, just an isolated incident.


Actually Phyrex, unfortunately it is a growing problem that is only now emerging. One of those "only the tip of the iceburg" issues. White slavery between here and Europe is also apparently a huge underground movement for extremely wealthy perverts. After years of confinement they are used to make snuff films. I was pretty horrified at some of the revelations.

The girl that disappeared on one of those islands a few years ago forced the issue to the surface and helped to reveal a lot of information that is usually underground stuff. There are even guys you can hire to help locate your missing kid if you have big dollars.

For those who do not know what snuff films are they are sexual film where they kill the person being sexually assulted. Some of it is acting but much of it is real. It is illegal to make a snuff film because it is hard to prove if it was an act or real.

Theres a rumor running round Europe that little girls, white, blonde and about 3-4 years old are abducted and shipped to America regulary.
This rumor resurfaced after the disappearence in Portugal of the McCann kid.
White-blonde 4 years old.
Sad if true.

I'm aware that there are illegal slave trades going on, heck there is plenty of human trafficking here in Korea. Look up juicy girls if you don't already know what they are.

I'm aware that there are illegal slave trades going on, heck there is plenty of human trafficking here in Korea. Look up juicy girls if you don't already know what they are.

Nooooooo, I don't want to look it up because those sites have virus crap. What are they Phy?

Juicy Girls are what we in the States call Bar Girls or B-Girls. They are hired by the bar owners to drum up trade. They sit with men and engage them in conversation. They then ask the man to buy them a drink. The drink is always way over priced and is usually either colored seltzer or juice, hence the name Juicy Girls. There are usually rooms in the back where a man can get more than conversation if the price is right.

Few if any of those young girls wearing Juicy Girl clothing realize they are advertizing that they are Bar Girls. They might as well have the word SLUT written across their ass.

Juicy Girls are what we in the States call Bar Girls or B-Girls. They are hired by the bar owners to drum up trade. They sit with men and engage them in conversation. They then ask the man to buy them a drink. The drink is always way over priced and is usually either colored seltzer or juice, hence the name Juicy Girls. There are usually rooms in the back where a man can get more than conversation if the price is right.

Few if any of those young girls wearing Juicy Girl clothing realize they are advertizing that they are Bar Girls. They might as well have the word SLUT written across their ass.

It actually goes a bit deeper than that Frogger. A large number of them have been forced into doing it. There are juicy girls here in Korea, that I've seen with my own eyes, from Russia, The Philippines, Thailand, and other countries. They have been forced here to pay off their debts. They are made to work 7 days a week until that debt is payed off, 5-$10 at a time, maybe more if a guy "buys their night off." Its really pretty bad.

A lot of them get duped into signing a contract for it. They're told that they'll be working in the bar as a singer or something of that sort, but are forced to work as juicy girls when they get there. They might be allowed to sing every now and then, just so that the contract is honored. That, unfortunately, keeps it legal.

What's even more unfortunate is that American soldiers seem to be their largest client base.