Four people have been arrested in Texas for running a “forced labor” scheme from an unassuming home on a quiet block, leaving neighbors stunned.
Fifteen women were found living in a home in Princeton — about 45 miles northeast of downtown Dallas — following a welfare check where they were forced to sleep on the floor when they weren’t working, according to Fox 4 News.
There was essentially no furniture in the home — just blankets and a bunch of computers and other electronics, police said in an announcement Monday.
The women were reported to police by a pest control company that was called to the home for bedbugs, according to an affidavit obtained by the outlet.
The inspector noted that “each room… had 3-5 young females sleeping on the floors” and said there were “large amounts of suitcases.”
Chandan Dasireddy, 24; Dwaraka Gunda, 31; Santhosh Katkoori, 31 — all of Melissa, Texas — and Anil Male, 37, of Prosper were arrested in March and charged with human trafficking.
Police said the women were forced to work for Katkoori and several programming shell companies owned by him and his wife, Gunda.
A search of the home revealed several laptops, cell phones, printers and fraudulent documents.
Investigators later learned that the forced labor operation included multiple locations in Princeton, Melissa and KcKinney with dozens of victims — including adult males. Additional electronics and documents were seized from other locations.
Princeton Police Sgt. Carolyn Crawford told Fox 4 that “over 100” people were involved — more than half of whom are victims.
More arrests are expected, cops said.
“How we came across this situation was very unique,” Princeton Police Chief James Waters said. “[Investigators] would unravel just a multitude of other clues and a multitude of other scenes that was going out there.”
The neighborhood is shocked such an operation was happening on their street.
“I would’ve never thought that something like this was going on like a few houses down from mine,” neighbor Herbert Logan said.
Another neighbor, Steven Watkins, said he had “no idea about anything.”
“What was going on before we even moved in here? It’s kind of really dark to think about,” he said.
Police would not disclose where the victims are from or if they ever tried to escape.
