Southland Pair Held in Vegas on Slavery Counts
A Southern California couple will be held without bail until they are arraigned on charges that they kept four Central American women as slaves in San Diego, Hawaii and Las Vegas.
At a hearing Friday, U.S. Magistrate Philip Pro ordered Kenneth Kimes, 67, and his wife, Santee Kimes, 41, held on the 17-count indictment pending arraignment next Friday.
Prosecutors charge that the couple, who operate two motel chains, hired four women as domestics and then beat them, refused to pay them and did not permit them any contact with the outside world.
The couple, operators of Kimes Motel Inc. and Mecca Motels Inc., reportedly have residences in La Jolla, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Washington, D.C., and Cancun, Mexico.
Santee Kimes also had been sought on a fugitive warrant from Washington, where she was found guilty of grand larceny last month of stealing a mink coat from a piano bar in the Mayflower Hotel near the White House.
The woman, who has several previous felony convictions, fled Washington while the jury was deliberating, the prosecutor said.
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