Sentencing Brings Sex Trafficking Case to End

OAKLAND-A federal judge ruled Monday that the son of a Berkeley landlord who illegally imported Indian girls for sex and cheap labor will serve a year of house arrest with electronic monitoring and five years of probation.

The ruling brings the notorious Reddy illegal immigration and sexual slavery case to a close after five years in the spotlight.

Prasad Lakireddy, 45, pleaded guilty in October 2003 to one count of conspiracy to employ unauthorized aliens. The charges were related to a sex trafficking ring brought to light nearly five years ago.

After the body of one of the sexually abused girls, 17-year-old Chanti Prattipati, was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in one of Lakireddy's father's apartments at 2020 Bancroft Way in November 1999, police discovered his family was involved in an intricate immigration scheme.

Prattipati's sister, then 15, who survived the carbon monoxide leak, told authorities that Reddy brought the pair to the United States from India for work and sex.

Several members of Lakireddy's family were subsequently found to have illegally brought several Indian women between the ages of 15 and 20 to the United States for cheap labor in the family's restaurant, Pasand Madras, and sex over a 14-year period beginning in October 1986.

Lakireddy's father, Lakireddy Bali Reddy, pleaded guilty to four felony charges in 2001 and is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Reddy was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to three of the seven alleged sexual-abuse victims, and the parents of Prattipati.

Lakireddy was the last defendant in the case to plead guilty. His father, brother Vijay Kumar Lakireddy, aunt Annapurna Lakireddy, and uncle Jayaprakash Lakireddy all pleaded guilty earlier.

Monday's sentence also forbids Lakireddy from initiating contact with any of the alleged sexual-abuse victims. He is prohibited from having any kind of contact with the parents or sister of the deceased Prattipati.

Lakireddy was also ordered to serve 300 hours of community service and pay a $20,000 fine, as part of U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken's ruling.

Wilken hesitated to issue Lakireddy the sentencing Monday after considering that Lakireddy's brother was sentenced to a longer term of two years in prison for similar charges. But she said Lakireddy's case must be considered separately from others involved.

"As far as I'm concerned there's no justice," said Marcia Poole, a Berkeley resident who is believed to have tipped off police to the case in 1999. "I think it's ridiculous."

Poole and other members of Women Against Sexual Slavery, which has been active in advocating the abused victims' cause, protested Lakireddy and his family's actions outside the Oakland courthouse.

Lakireddy's attorneys pushed for a shorter sentence at the hearing and attempted to separate him from his family's actions.

"I've always been impressed by the fact that my client was very gentle and law-abiding," said Paul Wolf, a Lakireddy attorney. "This was actually quite a strong sentence for Prasad and what he did."

The abuse and cheap labor scheme was not the fault of Lakireddy, Wolf said.

"While they may be vulnerable people, they were not vulnerable victims of Prasad Lakireddy's conduct," Lakireddy attorney Susan Raffanti said during the hearing.

Lakireddy's attorneys said they doubt the legitimacy of the victims' testimonies, citing inconsistencies in their statements.

"They deserve our compassion because they have been so greatly used and abused and banged around by everyone for their own agenda, except for my client," Wolf said. "But they are not worthy of credibility."

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