A well known restaurateur and partner in Berkeley's largest realty firm is also a sex slaver, according to federal charges that he brought two teenage girls and a young woman from India to the U.S. to have sex with him.
The San Francisco Chronicle says 62-year-old Lakireddy Bali Reddy was charged almost two months after one of the girls, 17, died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment building he owns. He's accused of bringing the three to the U.S. for prostitution "and for other immoral purposes," the paper says.
Berkeley police believe Reddy may have exploited others and are pushing other victims to come forward, the Chronicle says. ``We believe there are more victims out there that we don't even know about,'' Berkeley Police Capt. Bobby Miller tells the paper. ``It could touch several cities, several counties, even other states.''
Reddy was to appear in court Friday for a hearing on whether he should stay in federal custody.
Despite the federal charges, police don't think the two teens or the woman were involved in prostitution, but police do believe Reddy sexually molested them. Police had received a round of anonymous letters tipping them off to Reddy's actions with Indian girls during their probe of 17-year-old Seetha Vemireddy's death, the Chronicle says.
Her death was ruled accidental, caused by a blocked wall heater vent, the paper continues, but they continued investigating Reddy. The federal complaint says Reddy paid two Indian citizens to pose as the parents of Vemireddy and her 15-year-old sister and bring them to Berkeley under assumed names last summer.
But the younger sister told police and immigration agents she'd been having sex with Reddy in India "since she was turned over to him by her parents at the approximate age of 12," the Chronicle says. And an affidavit filed in federal court says a 20-year-old woman living with the sisters also told federal agents her father sold her to Reddy when she was 14 - due to economic hardship.
She also says Reddy had had sex with both the young girls in front of her frequently, according to that affidavit.
Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque - herself of Indian descent - tells the Chronicle members of Berkeley's Indian community were appalled by the girls' treatment. Others have said they performed maintenance tasks at Reddy's properties with older men watching over them. ``They don't have any finances, they're completely dependent on someone who would exploit them in this fashion,'' she tells the paper.
