Contra Costa Times
Published Friday, November 3, 2000


Reddy plea bargain postponed
By Leslie Fulbright
STAFF WRITER
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OAKLAND -- A federal court judge Monday allowed defense attorneys to push back a scheduled plea bargain for the Berkeley landlord accused of bringing girls into the country for sex and cheap labor, and for four of his relatives accused of immigration fraud.

The delay until February came after U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong reversed her decision to hold a plea-agreement hearing behind closed doors.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued the hearing should be closed because of intense publicity in the case against 63-year-old Lakireddy Bali Reddy and members of his family. Ted Cassman, Reddy's attorney, said the publicity had polluted the jury pool, making a fair trial impossible if they could not agree on a plea deal.

"We must protect the contents of the plea agreement until the court decides whether to accept it," Cassman said. "I don't know if there are 12 people who could fairly hear this trial. Everyone who has heard about this has an opinion."

Armstrong agreed to lift the seal after a newspaper attorney argued there were other options to a closed hearing, such as a change of venue. After Armstrong vacated her order, defense attorneys asked that the hearing be postponed until February so probation officials could weigh in on the proposed deal.

Last week, federal prosecutors filed reduced charges against Reddy, accusing him of conspiring to bring aliens into the United States, transporting minors for his personal sexual use and filing false statements on a 1998 tax return.

They added charges against his son, Vijay Kumar Lakireddy, 31, accusing him of, among other counts, falsifying visa documents to supply his father with two Indian girls for sex.

Reddy, Lakireddy and three other relatives are accused of bringing in 33 people illegally from South India between Oct. 1, 1986, and Jan. 14, 2000. For some, they obtained visas intended for high tech workers, 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.

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.

The defendants will remain out of custody until they return to court Feb. 6 for a plea hearing, judgment and sentencing date.