New Charges Filed In Berkeley Sex Case
Five in family accused of smuggling immigrants
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:hlee@sfchronicle.com>
Thursday, October 26, 2000
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BERKELEY -- A Berkeley landlord and four relatives were charged yesterday
with conspiring for more than a decade to smuggle into the United States at
least 50 Indian citizens, including teenage girls who authorities say were
used for cheap labor and sex.
The criminal charges mark the culmination of an investigation that began
after the carbon monoxide- poisoning death last November of 17-year-old
Chanti Prattipati in a Berkeley apartment owned by Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 63,
the city's wealthiest landlord.
Reddy, two sons, a brother and a sister-in-law intend to enter guilty pleas
next week to some of the charges as part of agreements with the federal
government, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland.
The defendants were charged yesterday in a five-count document known as a
``superseding information,'' which replaces a nine-count indictment filed in
February against Reddy and his 31-year-old son, Vijay Lakireddy.
Lakireddy was also charged with making false statements in visa applications
that said Indian workers would be paid $42,500 a year at his Berkeley
company, Active Tech Solutions, when he had no intention to do so.
The document also detailed the charges against three new defendants: Prasad
Lakireddy, 42, of Lafayette, another son of Reddy's; Jayaprakash Lakireddy,
47, of Oakland, the landlord's youngest brother; and Annapurna Lakireddy,
46, Jayaprakash Lakireddy's wife.
All five were charged with conspiring since 1986 to illegally bring aliens
into the United States from India by submitting false visa applications.
Prosecutors said the five arranged for Indian citizens to assume false
identities and sponsored ``sham marriages'' to obtain immigration benefits.
Vijay Lakireddy and his attorney, George Cotsirilos of San Francisco,
declined to comment after an arraignment yesterday in Oakland before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Wayne Brazil. A standard not-guilty plea was entered on
Lakireddy's behalf.
Lakireddy, Prasad Lakireddy and Jayaprakash Lakireddy are expected to plead
guilty on Monday, and Annapurna Lakireddy is scheduled to enter a guilty
plea on Tuesday, court documents show.
Reddy was charged yesterday with two counts of transporting a minor in
foreign commerce for illegal sexual activity and one count of making a false
statement on a tax return.
Lakireddy was accused of one count of importing an alien for immoral
purposes for allegedly helping to smuggle two girls so that his father could
have unlawful sex with them, the document said.
Prattipati's 15-year-old sister was also overcome by fumes but survived. She
and a third girl, both of whom Reddy allegedly harbored in a Bancroft Way
apartment he owned, helped provide details to Berkeley police and federal
agents about the alleged conspiracy. The three roommates all worked at
Reddy's Pasand restaurant in Berkeley or Jayaprakash Lakireddy's Jay
Construction without minimum wage or overtime premiums, prosecutors said.
The five defendants and others are the target of a pending class-action
civil suit to be filed on behalf of the teenage girls allegedly victimized
in the case, said San Francisco attorney Michael Rubin, who along with the
American Civil Liberties Union is representing the girls.
``This is something we have been actively pursuing for quite a few months,''
Rubin said yesterday. ``We're talking about allegations or a complex
conspiracy that involves individuals and victims beyond those outlined in
the information.''
E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.
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