05.22.07 - Couple
Indicted on Slavery Charges
The affluent Muttontown couple who were arrested on slavery
charges were formally indicted late yesterday by a federal
grand jury on those charges and additional charges of harboring
illegal residents, according to court documents.
The harboring charges referred to the allegation that the
pair, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani and her husband, Mahender
Murlidhar Sabhnani, also knew the two Indonesian women they
allegedly enslaved were in the country illegally.
The slavery charges stem from federal statutes that forbid
forcing people to work against their will through violence
or threats of violence.
The Indonesian women, who were hired as housekeepers at
the Sabhnanis home at 205 Coachman Place. E., had entered
the country on work visas for six-month stays that had long
since expired, prosecutors have said. Varsha Sabhnani is
accused of repeatedly torturing one of the Indonesian women,
both of whom are now being cared for by Catholic Charities.
The women have been identified in court papers as Samirah
and Nona.
Varsha Sabhnani's attorney, Charles Ross of Manhattan,
said, "My client is going to enter a plea of not guilty
and we will vigorously defend the case."
Mahender Sabhnani's attorney, Richard Willstatter of Westchester,
said his client also intends to plead not guilty.
Eastern District federal prosecutors Demetri Jones and
Mark Lesko declined to comment.
The indictment filed at the U.S. District Court in Central
Islip came after the three daughters of the Sabhnanis, who
had lived in the house while the Indonesian women were there,
declined to testify before the grand jury, citing their
Fifth Amendment rights, according to their attorneys.
The daughters, Pooja, 22; Dakshina, 20; and Tina, 19, hurriedly
left court without commenting.
The attorney for Pooja, Joseph Conway of Mineola, said
the three daughters were not involved in any wrongdoing.
The Sabhnanis were originally arrested on a complaint signed
by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The indictment also means that Senior U.S. District Court
Judge Thomas Platt will now take over the case, handling
the couple's arraignment, and deciding whether they should
be released on bail from prison, where they have been held
since their arrest last Monday. Platt was selected at random
late yesterday to oversee the case.
No date has been set for arraignment.
A federal magistrate, who had been handling the case since
the couple's arrest, had ruled that the couple could be
released on bail, provided they also met what was termed
a stringent set of criteria, including being confined to
their homes, wearing electronic monitoring ankle bracelets
and having their telephones monitored.
- Robert Kessler:
Newsday Staff Writer
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