May 9, 2006 1:33 pm US/Mountain
Saudi Woman Pleads Guilty To Immigration Charge
By Jon Sarche, AP Writer
DENVER (AP) ―
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Homaidan Al-Turki and his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, are accused of enslavement.
CBS4
A woman accused of keeping an Indonesian nanny as a virtual slave for four years pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of harboring an illegal immigrant.
Sarah Khonaizan, 35, faces a sentence ranging from probation to a year in prison and a fine of up to $20,000, attorneys said. In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of forced labor and document servitude.
Prosecutors and FBI agents accused Khonaizan and her husband, Homaidan Al-Turki, both Saudi citizens, of hiding the woman's passport and forcing her to cook, clean and care for their five children in their suburban Aurora home.
She slept on a mattress on the basement floor and was paid less than $2 a day, an FBI affidavit said.
State prosecutors also alleged that Al-Turki sexually abused the woman repeatedly. The Associated Press is not identifying her because of the sexual assault allegations.
Al-Turki's case is still pending. He faces federal charges of forced labor, document servitude and harboring an illegal immigrant and state charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment, extortion and theft.
Khonaizan also faces state charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, extortion and theft. Her attorney, Forrest Lewis, told the judge his client will enter a guilty plea in Arapahoe County District Court on Friday, but he declined further comment after the hearing.
Attorneys made no mention of Al-Turki's case Tuesday and it was not clear whether Khonaizan's plea agreement requires her to cooperate with prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Walker Miller scheduled a July 28 sentencing hearing, but said he wanted to review a pre-sentencing report on Khonaizan before deciding whether to accept her plea. Lewis said that was not unusual.
Lewis said after the hearing Khonaizan's concerns about her children prompted her to accept the plea deal.
"Bringing it to a conclusion in a way that allows the family to get back to normal and for her to care for her children was a main motivation," he said.
Lewis said Khonaizan would not fight any deportation order and plans to voluntarily return to Saudi Arabia after completing her federal and state sentences.
Khonaizan and Al-Turki agreed to settle a separate civil lawsuit filed by the Labor Department by paying their former nanny about $64,000. Prosecutor Brenda Taylor told the judge there might be additional restitution included in Khonaizan's plea agreement.
Al-Turki, a linguist, worked at a Denver publishing and translating company and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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