‘Slave’ Couple Granted House Arrest
By Robert E. Kessler, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
May 31–A federal judge said yesterday that a Muttowntown couple charged with enslaving two Indonesian women should be released on bail provided that their Gold Coast mansion is turned into a temporary prison pending the outcome of their trial.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Platt said the couple, Varsha Sabhnani and her husband, Mahender Sabhnani, could be released to their home at 205 Coachman Place E. under a set of unusual conditions. “For all practical purposes,” their home will be turned into “a jail at their own expense,” Platt said.
“If [government agents] suspect something is wrong, your clients will be back in jail,” Platt told defense attorneys at U.S. District Court in Central Islip.
Among the conditions, Platt said, are that the couple wear electronic monitors, have their telephones tapped and possibly have their home’s Internet connections disabled. Platt also suggested the home be guarded around the clock and that the couple’s four children not be allowed to carry any packages or messages for their parents. Platt said delivery people would have to bring food into the home.
The confinement arrangements would have to be fully paid for by the Sabhnanis, Platt said. In addition, Varsha Sabhnani would have to put up $2.5 million in bail and her husband $1 million.
Platt gave defense attorneys and federal prosecutors until tomorrow to work out the details. The Sabhnanis remain in federal custody, where they have been for the past two weeks since their arrest on charges of slavery and harboring fugitive aliens.
The two grounds to deny bail to a person charged with a federal felony are risk of flight or being a danger to the community.
Platt said he believed the unusual conditions he imposed would ensure that the Sabhnanis would not flee. Federal prosecutors had argued that the Sabhnanis were a danger to the community because, they said, Varsha Sabhnani’s mother, Joti, who lives in Indonesia, had recently told one of the alleged victim’s sons that she could have his mother killed. Prosecutors also said that Varsha Sabhnani’s brother, Naresh, had been involved in offering a $28,000 bribe to the son.
Platt said that as he interpreted federal law, danger to the community refers to the United States and possibly the western hemisphere, but federal law does not give him the authority to consider Indonesia part of that community.
Two defense attorneys, Jeffrey Hoffman and Charles Ross, said there was no evidence that the Sabhnanis had been involved in any threats or bribe attempts, or that the alleged incidents in Indonesia had actually occurred.
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