Unsealed documents describe trafficking of vulnerable people to Omaha for labor, prostitution

Within days, a driver from Omaha arrived to bring the family to a Bellevue hotel, where they worked in exchange for keeping a roof over their heads. The father manned the front desk overnight and did odd jobs, the mother did housekeeping, so did their preteen daughter, as their younger son tagged along.

Just weeks later, the man who arranged for the family to move to the Omaha area was being arrested along with four of his relatives and business partners as part of a years-long investigation of human trafficking activities at four Omaha-area hotels and several salons.  

The family members are four of the numerous people who appear in recently unsealed federal court documents, which describe allegations against Ketankumar Chaudhari, Rashmi Samani, Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari, Amit Babubhai Chaudhari, and Maheshkumar Chaudhari.

The five were charged Tuesday after federal, state and local law enforcement officers executed search warrants at their hotels and salons on suspicion of human trafficking and related crimes. They are also accused of money laundering, committing fraud and misusing visas, among other offenses. 

Ketankumar, Maheshkumar and Amit Babubhai Chaudhari are brothers. Rashmi Samani and Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari are siblings. Rashmi Samani and Kentakumar Chaudhari are married. None have legal status to be in the U.S., and all except Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari have a pending visa application or asylum claim, court documents state.

Investigators referred to Maheshkumar Chaudhari as a "mastermind" for a scheme that involved sending undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses from a contact in Washington and also for staging assaults so an immigrant could apply for a specific visa for victims hurt in crimes. 

The World-Herald has attempted to reach the individuals charged and their attorneys but have not received responses. 

Authorities described the group as leaders of a criminal organization that federal and local law enforcement had investigated for more than four years. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said law enforcement officers rescued 10 children and 17 adults from four hotels. 

The 64-page criminal complaint details drug dealing and substance use in the hotels, as well as prostitution and exploitation of undocumented workers — all perpetuated or allowed by the individuals who were arrested. The complaint cites interviews with employees and former residents of the hotel, reviews on travel sites from dissatisfied customers, WhatsApp messages and direct observation by investigators. 

The complaint states two minors, both of whom spoke only Spanish, were forced into prostitution at the hotels. An investigation earlier this year led to the arrest of six adults, three of whom were hotel staff. The minors told authorities they performed sex acts on employees in exchange for lodging; that their trafficker charged hotel staff a lower rate; and that staff may have deleted security footage or not shared it with police. 

An investigator who spoke with the three employees who were arrested said they used the "hotel till" to pay the minors. "In other words, the hotel paid for the employees to engage in commercial sex with children," she wrote in court documents. 

Ketankumar Chaudhari allegedly directed an employee to put $250 in each of the jailed employees' accounts and said those employees "were just looking to get laid and in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

Authorities said prostitution was happening at the hotel years prior.

The documents mention the 2023 conviction of Rolando Midder, who is serving a life sentence for sex trafficking a minor and producing child pornography. Police investigating Midder encountered the minor he trafficked high on meth and said she fled to one of the hotels and into a room that employees lived in. 

A woman who said she engaged in prostitution at one of the hotels in 2022 told police Amit Babubhai Chaudhari would book her under fake names, warn her about police and direct people to her to pay for sex, according to court documents. 

Ketankumar Chaudhari's messages on his phone indicate human trafficking, court documents state. Investigators said his WhatsApp messages included negotiations over the cost of transporting someone from a village in Gujarat, India.

Messages translated from Gujarati mention an "Anjana Chaudhary Society for the youth living in the U.S." and contain threats to deport girls sent to the U.S. if they don't do what's asked of them, the documents state. 

Their hotels were the subject of an anonymous report to the Human Trafficking Hotline in July that stated minor and adult employees sometimes work up to 20 hours a day and many work seven days a week with no ability to refuse because they need a place to live. The report and other employees relayed that the owners would withhold money and threaten to put people on the street, according to court documents. 

Employees of the hotel reportedly drove people from North Dakota and to Texas, including a 16-year-old who the employee believed was unrelated to the rest of the people they were driving. She said she was going to work at a hotel, documents state. 

When the former parent company of one of Ketankumar Chaudhari's hotels contacted him about allowing criminal activity and hurting the brand name, he blamed "undesirable hotel guests" because of the location, documents state. He also assured his corporate bosses that he completed training about identifying signs of human trafficking. 

Authorities said the group's business involvement extends beyond Omaha. It also says the group is connected to hotels in Georgia and Texas. The document lists nearly 70 businesses in which Ketankumar Chaudhari is involved, spanning multiple states. 

Outside of activities in the hotels, investigators describe money-laundering operations and a scam that involved posing as a Federal Trade Commission agent. 

Staff writer Dan Crisler contributed to this report.