Dec 5, 2005 10:42 pm US/Mountain
Labor Department Sues Couple Accused Of Slavery
DENVER (AP) ―
The Labor Department has filed a civil lawsuit against a Saudi Arabian couple accused of keeping an Indonesian woman as a virtual slave for four years while the husband repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
Homaidan Al-Turki and his wife Sarah Khonaizan already faces federal criminal charges of forced labor, document servitude and harboring an illegal immigrant. Al-Turki also faces state charges of rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion, and Khonaizan faces state charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion.
Both face up to life in prison if convicted.
A federal indictment released in June said the Indonesian woman was allegedly paid less than the equivalent of $2 a day over four years to cook, clean and care for the couple's five children and was sometimes loaned out to work for four other families when her host family traveled. Court documents said the woman told investigators she worked seven days a week with no regular days off from 2000 to 2004 while living with Al-Turki's family in suburban Aurora.
The Labor Department's lawsuit accuses Al-Turki and Khonaizan of illegally paying the woman less than the minimum wage and failing to keep records of the woman's employment.
John Richilano, one of the couple's attorneys, did not immediately return a call.
The lawsuit said the couple owes the woman about $62,500 in unpaid wages and said the court would be authorized to order damages of that amount or higher.
The woman, whose name is being withheld by The Associated Press because she's an alleged sexual assault victim, was 17 when she was hired by Khonaizan through an employment agency, the indictment said.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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