BELLEVUE, Neb. (KMTV) – Federal agents raided four metro motels Tuesday following a four-year human trafficking investigation. Motel resident Angela Kidder told KMTV about the activity she saw.
- Five people are under arrest after human trafficking allegations.
- Motel resident Angela Kidder describes what she saw.
- "The drug dealing was real bad, there a lot of people coming and going," Kidder said.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Federal agents raided four metro motels Tuesday morning following a four-year human and sex trafficking investigation, leaving residents scrambling to find new housing.
Witnesses and newly filed court documents paint an unsettling picture of life at the four metro motels where owner Ken Chaudari and four others are accused of labor and sex trafficking.
Angela Kidder has been living in the former Roadway Inn in Bellevue since October. She woke up Tuesday as federal agents banged on doors and shouted at residents to stay in their rooms.
"It's like what in the world is going on," Kidder said.
The 65-page affidavit lays out in plain language the years of alleged criminal activity that included labor trafficking — described by the FBI as modern-day slavery — sex trafficking and rampant illicit drug use.
According to the affidavit, on one occasion, motel employees used money from the hotel till to pay for sex with minors. It says women were also extorted into sexual activities in exchange for a place to stay.
At the Bellevue motel, Kidder says the allegations are not surprising.
"In one of the rooms down at the end, there was the girls, a guy would go in chose who they wanted, he would go back in with the pimp, then the pimp would come out and stand by the door while whatever went on in the room went on. Then it switched," Kidder said.
Court documents reveal agents believe all four motels were "hotbeds for drug dealing and drug use."
"The drug dealing was real bad, there a lot of people coming and going," Kidder said.
As for the accusations of labor trafficking, authorities say a 12-year-old girl was forced to work cleaning rooms. One employee told an undercover agent he worked over 100 hours and got paid less than $400.
Chaudari's messaging app conversations showed he was involved with moving immigrants around the country to other hotels in Texas and Georgia.
Despite the serious allegations, law enforcement says these motels will remain open, in part because many people staying there, like Kidder, have nowhere else to go.
"This was the cheapest we found find... I wish we never have come here," Kidder said.
Kidder says she's working to find a new home but doesn't know where that will be yet.