Princeton police say a welfare check at a house found suspected human trafficking victims, but an attorney representing a man arrested in the case says the evidence doesn't support the claim.
Police discovered 15 adult women who said they were forced to work for companies owned by Santhosh Katkoori and his wife. Now Katkoori and three other people are charged with trafficking of persons.
Attorney Jeremy Rosenthal represents Katkoori.
“It's just not human trafficking,” Rosenthal said. “Obviously, there are some facts that the police looked into, but I think that they just really did a lot of arresting before they did investigating.”
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According to the Princeton police investigation, the women were sleeping on bed rolls, and there was no furniture in the home other than folding tables.
“It may be unconventional,” Rosenthal said. “It may be something that is not common to have living conditions like this. But again, there is no evidence of fraud. There's no evidence of force, and there's no evidence of coercion. That's what the law requires for human trafficking.”
The arrest affidavit said the women told police they were brought here for an internship where they would apply for jobs and learn JavaScript. Once hired, their money went directly to Katkoori, where he held back 20% and gave them the rest.
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“We do know that they were working,” Detective Aarmando Loya with Princeton police said. “So, it wasn't just residing inside the home. They were working for these people.”
Still, Rosenthal said this doesn't rise to the level of the second-degree felony of trafficking a person.
“Most if not all of these women have graduate degrees or close to it or are working on it,” Rosenthal said.
“They were getting training. They were getting job placement and in exchange for 20%. I don't practice labor and employment law. But this sounds like a far, far cry from human trafficking," Rosenthal said.
Katkoori is currently out on bond while the investigation continues.
