http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/crimes_courts/stories/v27reddy_20001027.htm
Published Friday, October 27, 2000


Charges against landlord reduced
A son will face added counts of falsifying visa papers
By Leslie Fulbright
STAFF WRITER


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OAKLAND -- Federal prosecutors filed reduced charges Wednesday against a prominent Berkeley landlord accused of smuggling South Indians into the country, but added charges accusing his son of falsifying visa documents to supply his father with two Indian girls for sex.

The new list of charges was filed in anticipation of hearings next week that will likely include guilty pleas for 63-year-old Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 31-year-old Vijay Kumar Lakireddy and three other family members.

The new charges, which replace an indictment federal prosecutors filed in February, widely broaden the scope of what prosecutors say was a scheme to import South Indians for cheap labor and sex.

The five suspects are accused of bringing in 33 people illegally between Oct. 1, 1986, and Jan. 14, 2000. For some, they obtained H-1B visas intended for high tech workers, falsely claiming they would be employed at Vijay Lakireddy's Berkeley company, Active Tech Solutions, prosecutors said. For others, they arranged false identities or sponsored sham marriages, the charges say.

The immigrants ended up working at various family-owned businesses, including Reddy's restaurants, apartment complexes and office buildings.

Neither side would comment on the pending plea deals, which could keep all five family members from spending any time behind bars.

The 33 immigration cases are all included under one charge of conspiracy for each of the family members.

Lakireddy is also accused of making false statements to a federal agency and aiding in bringing two underage girls into the country to have sexual intercourse with his father. The earlier indictment did not accuse him of arranging sex for Reddy.

Nine counts in the original indictment against Reddy have been reduced to four: one of conspiring to bring aliens into the United States; two of transporting minors for his personal sexual use; and one of false statements on a 1998 tax return.

With the new charges, Reddy faces a maximum prison sentence of 23 years. He could also serve no time, be fined up to $750,000 and be required to remain in the country on probation. The recommended prison time, fines and probation will be outlined in a plea deal that will be provided to the court today, but not be made public.

Reddy's oldest son, Prasad Lakireddy, 42; Reddy's brother, Jayaprakash Lakireddy, 47; and the brother's wife, Annapurna Lakireddy, 46, are all charged with conspiring to commit immigration fraud.

"Most of the charges are for my father and brother, but they wanted to get the whole family," said Prasad Lakireddy. "They think we are all part of it, but we are going to court for my father."

A sentencing date will be set at next week's hearings, prosecutors said.

Police first came into contact with Reddy during an investigation at one of his apartment complexes in Berkeley, where a 17-year-old girl died a year ago from carbon monoxide fumes from a broken heater. The girl was one of two sisters Reddy is accused of having imported for sex.

A coroner's report said the girl was 7 to 10 days pregnant. It is not known who fathered the child, and may never be known, prosecutors said.

Reddy could also face state charges, which could include statutory rape. Alameda County prosecutors, who have been considering such charges, did not return calls Wednesday.

Reddy will be arraigned today but is not expected to enter a guilty plea until the hearing Monday. Vijay Lakireddy was arraigned Wednesday, pleading not guilty. He is expected to change that plea next week.

The new charges "indicate a small fraction of the abuses that this family did to young Indian women," said Jayashri Srikantiah, staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project, which has formed a legal team to represent Reddy's alleged victims in a possible civil suit.

"The charges from the U.S. Attorney's Office are just the tip of the iceberg."