42-year-old Meshael Alayban, who is identified as a Saudi Arabian princess, has been accused of holding a domestic servant against her will at her condominium in Irvine California, CNN reported on Friday. Alayban faces one felony count of human trafficking. She is one of the wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud.
Even as Alayban appeared in an Orange County court in Santa Ana on Thursday, the judge decided to continue the arraignment until July 29. Ayalban was kept inside a cage-like holding space during the pre-trial, and witnesses so her speaking with her attorney through the wire webbing, news reports said. She is being held in the Orange County jail, and faces a maximum sentence of 12 years if convicted.
The Kenyan woman allegedly held captive managed to escape last Tuesday and flagged down a bus in Irvine. A passenger helped her contact the Irvine Police Department. The alleged victim was contracted to work by the Alayban family in Saudi Arabia in March 2012, at 1,600 a month for working eight hours a day, five days a week. Once she arrived in Saudi Arabia, her passport was taken from her, and says he was paid only $220 a month and forced to work 16 hours a day for a full week.
"The police report confirms that there was no physical abuse, no physical restraint, and that the complaints were about hours worked and wages paid," Alayaban's attorney Paul S. Meyer said in a statement. "We intend to fully investigate all facts, and expect that the truth will resolve this matter."
Police say Alayban's family traveled to the United States in May with the alleged victim and four women from the Philippines under similar contracts. Irvine detectives and immigration and homeland security agents found the four other women in the condominium, a news release from police and the Orange County District Attorney's Office said, after coming in with a search warrant. Police say all five women are in good health, and at this time, there have been no indications of physical abuse.
This is the first forced labor human trafficking case to be prosecuted in Orange County under California's Proposition 35, which passed in November. The measure has increased the penalty for human trafficking, CNN reported
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