The California police nabbed a Saudi princess under human trafficking laws for allegedly holding a domestic worker against her will at a California condominium.
The Orange County district attorney Tony Rackauckas identified the 42-year-old Meshael Alayban as a Saudi princess who was charged with one count of human trafficking. If convicted, she faces up to 12 years in prison.
Alayban was arrested after a Kenyan woman carrying a suitcase flagged down a bus and told a passenger she believed she was a human trafficking victim. The passenger helped her contact the police, who searched the condo where Alayban and her family were staying, police said.The 30-year-old woman was hired in Kenya in 2012 and her passport was taken from her on arrival in Saudi Arabia. She was forced to work excessive hours, was paid less than promised and was not allowed to leave, police said.
She had been promised wages of $1,600 a month but was paid only about $200 a month, Rackauckas said. "This is not a contract dispute," Rackauckas told a bail hearing. "This is holding someone captive against their will."A judge set bail at $5 million for Alayban and required her to submit to GPS monitoring. He also banned her from leaving the county without prior authorisation.
Alayban did not appear in court. Her attorney, Paul Meyer, said the case is a contractual dispute and argued his client shouldn't be assigned a ransom-like bail solely because she is rich.He said she has been travelling to the US since she was a child, owned properties here and had given her word she would address the allegations."This is a domestic work dispute," he said. Police say Alayban's family travelled to the US in May with the victim and four women from the Philippines.The victim was working "around the clock" for the family cooking, cleaning and caring for children, said Irvine police chief David Maggard.
