Millionaires Convicted of Slavery

Varsha Sabhnani, 46, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. She was convicted with her husband, Mahender Sabhnani, 51, in December 2007 on a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens. In other words human slavery.

The Sabhnani's of 205 Coachman Place East, Muttontown, Long Island were rich, in fact they were millionaires, who ran an international business distributing perfume. They were arrested in May 2007 by federal agents on charges of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves, since 2002, in their posh Long Island home.

"No one would ever think that human beings were being brought into the United States and held for slave labor, and beaten, and tortured in a beautiful mansion right here in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods on Long Island," said federal prosecutor Demetri Jones

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=M7eMD52dCSA]

The case began to unfold when Samirah, one of the two women being held in the house, wandered away from the home and came across a Dunkin Donuts shop at 52 W. Jericho Tpke., Syosset, early Mother's Day morning. The manager, Adrian Mohammed, who initially thought she must be a homeless person, realized that something was wrong and called the cops. When the police arrived, Samirah led them back to the Sabhnani mansion, where Nona was found, cowering in a 3-by-3-foot closet under the stairwell leading to the basement. With the help of an interpreter they told the police their story of the horrible abuse they had suffered at the hands of their employers. The Sabhnanis were arrested and eventually released on $3.5 million bail.

The women were physically abused on a regular basis, with beatings administered by Varsha in one of the house bathrooms with Mahender looking on. Varsha Sabhnani liked to mix it up a little, dealing out beating with a wide variety of instruments. Rolling pins and broomsticks were her favorite, but she wasn’t above using bamboo canes in a pinch.

Varsha threw scalding water on Samirah at one point, cut the woman behind the ears with a paring knife another time, and forced the women to eat chili peppers until they vomited - then made them eat the vomit. The women were starved, given barely enough food to survive on. Eventually things got so bad for Samirah and Nona that they started hoarding food, keeping snacks that she was able to sneak out of the kitchen in a spot above a drop-ceiling panel.

These women were forced to work 21 hour days from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m. "seven days a week" according to prosecutors. When they were allowed to sleep, they had to sleep on 3-by-6 foot mats that were kept on the floor of one of the Sabhnanis two kitchens. If they slept late, they got a beating. Caught stealing food from the trashcan? That’s a beating. Looking master in the eye? Oh you can bet that’s a beating.

"In her arrogance, she treated Samirah and Enung as less than people," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Demetri Jones. "Justice for the victims: That's what the government is asking for."

"This did not happen in the 1800s," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko said during the trial. "This happened in the 21st century. This happened in Muttontown, New York."

Federal sentencing guidelines had recommended a range of 12 to 15 years in prison for Sabhnani, who was identified as the one who inflicted the abuse. In addition to prison, she will serve three years probation and pay a $25,000 fine.

Mahender Sabhnani, 51, who is free on bail while awaiting his own sentencing, wept as he watched his wife's punishment pronounced. He was charged with the same crimes because he allowed the conduct to take place and benefited from the work the women performed in his home, prosecutors said. He is expected to receive a much shorter prison term.

God Gets Arrested Near Church

It may surprise you to hear that God got arrested near a church on cocaine charges! Its true, God Lucky Howard, 39, a self-employed mortgage broker, living at 3812 N. Avon Ave., Tampa was arrested. He was charged with one count each of delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church, a school and public housing; one count each of delivery of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a church, a school and public housing; and two counts of possession of cocaine.

According to the police report, on April 28th police bought 3.4 grams of cocaine from him at his home. A month later, police served a search warrant on that same address and found a safe in the bedroom closet containing three plastic bags with 22.5 grams of cocaine. They also found a digital scale with cocaine residue.

This was not God's first offense. In 1995 had pleaded guilty to a similar charge and in 2003 he spent 18 months in state prison, again on a cocaine charge. He is currently held in the Orient Road jail on an $86,500 bail.

Just in case you didn't know, God Lucky Howard is not the only God in Florida, nor is he even the only God in trouble. There are other Gods in the Florida penal system:

• Glory of God Cummings of Pensacola


• God Fearing Philippe of Lakeland


• None God of Jupiter


• God Medeiros of New Port Richey


• God Goldman of Dade County


• God V. Torres of Dade County and


• Allahzar God Allah, 62, has been in a Lake County prison for almost a quarter century serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

God has also been spotted elsewhere. An Illinois judge gave a man named Steve Kreuscher permission to legally change his name to "In God We Trust". The 57-year-old artist and bus driver said the name grew from his devotion to God......and in his own words:

"There are billions of artists out there. If you don't do something to stand out in the crowd, the world won't recognize you."

This got me to thinking about Jesus Christ. Where can the son of God be found? Well the closest I got was a cocaine drug dealer named Spider who was waiting for Jesus in Dallas:

Drug traffickers in Mexico mixed as much as six pounds of the illicit white powder into a paste and used it to make a regal statue of the Christian savior, complete with painted-on flowing hair and a gold cape. They were hoping that it would not attract the attention of border guards in Laredo....wrong. Drug-sniffing dogs at the border exposed Jesus as nothing but a mixture of cocaine and paste.

"These people will use anything, including religious icons to smuggle their drugs," said Steven Robertson, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, in Washington. "It is sacrilegious."

The plot quietly began to unfold when the woman who was a passenger in a car driving into the United States said a man told her he had too many things to carry, and would pay her $80 if she'd drop the statue at the Laredo bus station, according to a court document filed.

While trying to enter the United States, Customs and Border Patrol inspectors grew suspicious and checked her out. The woman later said she was unaware the statue was cocaine and took federal agents along for her rendezvous. After being arrested, the man, 61-year-old Bernardino Garcia-Cordova, admitted the statue was his property. Garcia-Cordova, who now faces cocaine importation and possession charges, told investigators a man he knows only by a Spanish nickname, La Araña, or The Spider, told him to take it to Dallas.

Hopefully the Spider has not put too much faith in the coming of Jesus, because it is not going to happen!!

Kids Perform in "Sex Shows"

The depth of human depravity has hit a new low in the case of kids, 5-7 years old, being taught how to perform sex shows in front of adults. They were were fed powerful painkillers (Vicodin) they knew as "silly pills". They danced for the audience. They were forced to have sex with each other on stage. They were videotaped in sexual positions.

The case came to light in August 2004 in Mineola, Texas. Involved were three siblings: a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, along with their 6-year-old aunt.

Six adults have been charged; two (Jamie Pittman, 36, and Shauntel Mayo, 29 both from Tyler) have been already sentenced to life in prison; jury selection is set start for a third, Patrick “Booger Red” Kelly, 41 of Tyler. The others awaiting trial are: Dennis Boyd Pittman, 45, of Tyler; Shelia Darlene Sones, 48, of Mineola; and Jimmy Dale Sones, 33, of Brownsboro.

It has also been reported that a 7th person, Rebeca Lynn Pittman, has signed papers to be extradited from Washington state to face charges of aggravated sexual assault on a child, in connection with this case. Authorities are still investigating and are looking for others, including anyone who may have attended shows a what is being called The Mineola Swinger's Club.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=yXLfDF2mRk0]

During the trial of Jamie Pittman, the first defendant to go to trial, the jury was shown a 2 1/2 hour videotaped interview Texas Ranger Sgt. Phillip Kemp conducted with the oldest victim when she was 8 and her 7-year-old brother. Their foster mother was also there to make the children feel more comfortable during the interview in November 2005, about eight months after the children were removed from their home by CPS. The girl drew a diagram and described the inside of the club where they danced. She said there were two guards standing inside the front door and "Dennis" would sit at the front desk where people had to pay for tickets to watch the movies made of the children performing sex acts.

The girl said there were eight kids who would perform in the club. Her brother had to have sex with a teenaged boy for the movies, she said, and she would make movies with some of the other children. Jamie Pittman filmed the movies, she said.

The movies would be filmed in one area of the club and people would watch the movies in another area. People would also watch as they danced and performed sex acts. Each time she was asked about what they did, the girl would spell out "s-e-x" but refused to say the word. The girl said the children were made to watch their own movies to see how they turned out and they made a new movie each week.

At age 5, the children would begin "kindergarten", where they were taught sex acts using dolls. At the school, the kids were called by numbers, such as Kid One. She said she was in the older group and had graduated from kindergarten.

Jamie Pittman would buy "silly pills" all of the children would take every time they went to the club, she said. "They made us feel like, to do anything. They made us feel silly and stuff ... They made us crazy," she said.

The 7-year-old boy told Kemp "nasty" things happened to him in kindergarten, but he didn't want to talk about it. He said his sister had to touch him when they were at the club and they played doctor for people. He also said they took "silly pills" and he named other children he did plays with. He said Pittman videotaped the skits they made.

Sgt. Phillip Kemp testified he began investigating the "Mineola Swinger's Club" in November 2005 after the Smith County District Attorney's Office asked him to investigate the allegations. He said Pittman orchestrated and videotaped an incident where the two siblings were forced to have sex with each other.

Kemp also said people came to watch the children's shows, but he was never able to identify any of the spectators. He believes other people were there and didn't do anything to protect the children. He said he believed a lot more than the four children were involved, but he hasn't been able to find them yet.

It took the jury just 4 minutes to find guilt and 2 minutes to sentence Jamie Pittman to life in prison charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child.

In the case of Shauntel Mayo it took the jury 4 minutes to find her guilty and 6 minutes to sentence her to life in prison.

The third person to go on trial, Patrick Kelly, 41, is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, tampering with physical evidence and engaging in organized criminal activity. Kelly also faces a life sentence if convicted, and Smith County prosecutors hope for another swift verdict.

Thad Davidson, Kelly's attorney, said his client passed a lie-detector test proving his innocence and worries about getting a fair trial in Tyler, 25 miles southeast of Mineola, which is in Wood County.

"I think it's impossible to get a fair trial within 80 miles of Smith County," Davidson said.

Mineola, about 80 miles east of Dallas, is a close-knit, conservative bean-processing town of with more than 30 churches. Residents there want to put the scandal behind them as quickly as possible. The one-story building, where prosecutors say four children were trained to perform in front of an audience of 50 to 100 once a week, has been vacant since the landlord ousted the alleged organizers in 2004.

The Rev. Tim Letsch is opening a church in the yellow-plastered building where the children were abused. He acknowledges that building a congregation might be difficult because of the stigma attached to the property.

"You got to decide whether you're willing to forgive those kind of things," Letsch said. "It's a hard deal. Especially for a spiritual person to walk in and say, 'This happened here.'"

Permanent custody of the three siblings was given to John and Margie Cantrell. However, this week, in a surprising turn of events, prosecutors in California charged John Cantrell with sexually assaulting a child in the state 18 years ago. Margie Cantrell said her husband is innocent. Patrick Kelly's attorney has moved to postpone the trial in light of the allegations against Cantrell, a state witness, who had testified in the previous two trials.

5-Year-Old Boy Tortured and Abused

Starkeisha Brown's 5-year-old son, who suffered "unbearable psychological and physical abuse" demonstrates the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity. His will to live after enduring the  horrible torture at the hands of his own mother and her live-in girlfriend, Krystal Matthews, 21, is truly amazing. His name has not been released.

"I've never seen anyone with these kinds of injuries who has lived," Assistant Police Chief James McDonnell told reporters last week. "This kid must have a tremendous will to live, to be able to still hang on despite what he's been through."

In his 5 short years:

• He was hung by his hands and wrists from a door jamb and beaten
  


• He was routinely denied food and water.
  


• He was burned with cigarettes all over his body, including his genitals.
  


• He was left to sit in his own urine and feces.
  


• His hands were held to a hot stove that may leave them permanently disfigured.

The boy's physical appearance was also striking. He had a pot belly suggestive of severe malnutrition, burns across his body in various stages of healing, old scars, bruises, and badly damaged and burned hands, he also had a broken tooth with the nerve end exposed. Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Abused Child Unit, said the abuse was obviously continuous and prolonged.

"This wasn't just one big beating," Neglia said. "You can tell by the different stages of injuries that this was prolonged."

The boy remains in hospital, after suffering kidney failure due to malnutrition. Authorities describe him as withdrawn and shy but plays with people he trusts. He has a healthy appetite and began walking over the weekend with a slight limp. His burnt hand is healing well and regaining its range of motion.

The mother, Starkeisha Brown, 24, and Krystal Matthews, 21, who lived together at a South Los Angeles apartment near 110th and Figueroa streets, were charged with one count each of torture, child abuse, corporal injury to a child, dissuading a witness, and two counts each of conspiracy. A district attorney's office statement identified Matthews as the live-in girlfriend of Brown. A baby sitter, La Tanya Monikue Jones, 26, was added to the case. Prosecutors charged her with child abuse, corporal injury to a child, conspiracy and conspiracy to dissuade a witness. Jones allegedly burned the 5-year-old's hand over a stove at one point while baby-sitting, according to prosecutors.

Brown and Matthews appeared in Superior Court in Compton but their arraignment was postponed to June 25. Brown was held on $1.1 million bail. Matthews was remanded to custody without bail because of a probation violation. Both face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted. Jones is being held on $180,000 bail. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The boy was finally rescued from his abusers after an anonymous tip from a stranger. On June 4th a woman called the abuse hotline saying that the little boy told her at a train station that his mother had burned his hand on top of a hot stove. That call prompted the Department of Children and Family Services to set up an appointment with Starkeisha Brown and Krystal Matthews on Monday, June 9th, to discuss the allegation.

Knowing that she could not attend the meeting with her son, who showed obvious signs of abuse, Brown concocted a scheme to fool the authorities. She "borrowed" the healthy 4-year-old son of La Tanya Monikue Jones and his 6-year-old sister. She planned to pass off the 4-year-old as her own son. Brown and her girlfriend then asked a complete stranger to watch her 5-year-old son while they went to the meeting.

While the women were being interviewed, the stranger who had been asked to watch the boy started asking people in the neighborhood what he should do with the 5-year-old, who looked sickly and injured. Eventually someone called authorities. Officials got word of the boy's condition as they were interviewing Brown and Matthews and began asking more pointed questions and challenging the pair's story. Halfway through the interview the two women sprinted from the office, abandoning the 4-year-old and his sister at the office, police said. The children are now in the care of the authorities.

"They realize that no one is buying their ruse," said Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Abused Child Unit, and "they bug out."

Capt. Fabian Lizarraga said it was fortunate that the stranger sought help. He "had the sense that something was not right, that the situation he had been placed in was not right," the captain said.

Authorities launched a hunt for Brown and Matthews while authorities took the 5-year-old child to a hospital. Matthews was arrested Friday and Brown turned herself in to police on Saturday. Both women have accounts on the popular MySpace website. See Starkreisha Brown here and Krystal Matthews' is here. Both women also have criminal records.

Brown is a known gang member who as a minor served time in the California Youth Authority for battery. She also served a total of two and a half years in prison for two separate convictions: one for felony robbery of an elderly woman in 2003 and later for petty theft, when she and another woman stole a bracelet and other items from a Macy's department store.

Most recently, Brown was incarcerated from March 2006 to January 2007. During that period, the boy was in the custody of his grandmother, authorities said. Brown regained custody of her son when she left prison in January 2007. But that March, a judge issued an arrest warrant for her in connection with parole violations. It is unclear why officials could not locate her.

Matthews also has a criminal history, including convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and forgery. In May, Matthews got into a fight with her younger brother, slashing him in the face with a box-cutter. She was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to 3 years probation.

Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is investigating why no one followed up an initial case review after a tip in November 2005 that the boy was neglected and at risk while in the care of his grandmother, who took the boy in after his mother was arrested for shoplifting.

An array of other agencies missed their chance to intervene, said Gloria Molina, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, including the state Department of Corrections and the county's Department of Probation, Department of Mental Health and foster care agencies that had case files for Brown and the two other women charged in the case. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky blamed a "silo" mentality of agencies that do not reflexively alert one another to potential risks posed by cases.

"Why was there no intervention? It shouldn't have to be from the hotline," Molina said.

Friends and family say they suspected that Starkeisha Brown beat her 5-year-old son but nobody called authorities. Such problems are particularly present in neighborhoods like the one where the Browns lived, where distrust of police and child-protection workers is high and residents worry that calling authorities could make problems worse.

"I don't think it is that they are colluding with the abuser," said Carole Shauffer, executive director of the Youth Law Center, a San Francisco-based public interest law firm. "For the most part, it's fear of what's going to happen, fear of nothing happening, fear of collateral consequences, and denial, that 'it's none of my business, and it can't be as bad as it seems to me.' "

The boy's great-grandmother, Barbara Moreno, said she noticed cuts, scratches and bumps on him, but dropped the subject when he told her the injuries were caused by a fall and a dog attack.

"Sometimes you turn your head," said Vivian Daniels, a family friend who about a month ago finally asked Brown about the bruises and scratches on her son's body. She said she didn't call police or the Department of Children and Family Services because she feared it would make things worse for the boy and perhaps even for her and her children.

"It's tit-for-tat," Daniels said. "In South-Central, we don't do that. I'm just telling you how it is."

"We have seen time and time again that people say, 'I've seen child abuse, I've heard it, I've heard screams, but I do nothing,' " said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. "People are so reluctant to speak out on it."

Hutchinson and others said suspicion and fear of authorities runs deep in parts of South L.A. and that extends beyond the police to social service agencies and other public providers. They said some people are afraid that calling authorities could end up making the family situation worse -- particularly if the child is taken into foster care. Others fear authorities might end up checking on them.

In response to the case, community activists on Friday canvassed the neighborhood around 110th and Figueroa streets, where Brown recently lived with the boy, with fliers that read: "Break the Silence on Child Abuse in South L.A.! Help Make Sure a Starkeisha Brown Torture Case Never Happens Again."

Kerstin Fritzl Reunited with her Family

Kirsten Fritzl, 19, of Amstetten, Austria who had been in a medically-induced coma for several weeks, has finally been reunited with her mother and siblings. Her father, Josef Fritzl, remains in jail having being accused of repeatedly raping his own daughter, who bore him 7 children (including Kristen) and holding them captive for 24 years in a cellar. See the Fritzl story here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7HgiXyjm4s]

Kerstin's doctor, Dr Albert Reiter said: “It was an extraordinary moment when Kerstin, holding my arm, and I were able to walk through the door into a new home, crossing the threshold into a new life.The entire family is very happy that they are all together for the first time.“ See the press conference here. The Fritzl family now lives in an apartment on the grounds of the clinic where they are being taken care of.

Kerstin's recovery has truly been remarkable. She was rushed to hospital in April after she fell desperately ill and was placed on life support systems including a respirator and dialysis machine. Her condition became worse and she was eventually put into a medically-induced coma to help her organs recover. In May her doctors began reducing her medication and she was brought out of the coma in June. Elisabeth, her mother, was at her bedside regularly encouraging her to fully come back into the world.

As she lay in bed, medics gradually started to help her to use her muscles again – including teaching her how to eat and speak again because of problems caused by the length of time she was connected to the respirator. Finally she was allowed out of intensive care and was taken by ambulance to start a new life with the rest of her freed family.

She is still suffering from symptoms associated with prolonged bedrest, including muscle waste and deterioration of her bones. But she has already managed to walk and received vaccinations to prepare her body for the outside world.

The Fritzl family is now all together: Kerstin; Elisabeth, her mother; Rosemarie, her grandmother; her brothers (Felix, 6, Alexander, 12 and Stefan, 18); and her sisters (Monika, 14 and Lisa, 16);

Family lawyer Christoph Herbst said Elisabeth, 42, is now determined to keep the family together.

“The family all want to live together. There is a real desire to be with one another. To be together is something very precious indeed. Everyone involved couldn't anticipate that this could happen so quickly and so positively."

But he said their freedom of movement was severely restricted by media besieging the clinic and appealed to journalists to respect family members' privacy.