Authorities reportedly uncovered disturbing details regarding the behavior of the owners and workers of multiple hotels and motels in a sex trafficking bust.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska (USAO) charged five individuals who owned, operated and managed multiple hotels in the Omaha, Nebraska, area for their involvement in sex trafficking and labor trafficking conspiracies Aug. 12, according to a press release. People who had been in one of the hotels — the Roadway Inn — made allegations of disturbing activity, according to KMTV. A woman claimed she felt like someone was watching her.
“They knew my dog was on the bed, they knew stuff they shouldn’t have known,” Erin Stertz told the outlet.
“This investigation revealed victims who were forced into sexual activity, living and working in dangerous and unsanitary conditions and extorted to work in grueling jobs with little to no pay right here in our neighborhood and community, right here in the heart of the heartland,” Omaha FBI Field Office Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said in an Aug. 12 press conference.
Federal agents executed search warrants at 14 businesses and two homes, including the AmericInn, The Inn (formerly Super 8), New Victorian Inn, and Roadway Inn. Several “Brow and Lash” salons in Omaha-area malls were also searched as part of the operation. 2/4
— U.S. Attorney Nebraska (@USAO_NE) August 12, 2025
Authorities charged Kentakumar Chaudari, Rashmi Ajit Samani and three others, according to the USAO. Kowel named Samani as Chaudari’s wife. The group faces charges of sex trafficking, labor trafficking, drug trafficking, money laundering, harboring of aliens and other charges, according to the federal agent. Management at the various establishments allegedly provided shelter for drug traffickers and sex traffickers.
“Sex trafficking was not only allowed at these hotels, but also encouraged and prevented and protected from law enforcement detection,” Kowel said in the press conference. (RELATED: One Of El Salvador’s ‘Most Wanted’ Nabbed In America’s Heartland)
A motel worker told officials the owner’s wife — who authorities arrested in the case — would watch the property’s surveillance video as if “it was the equivalent of a daytime soap opera,” according to a court affidavit obtained by KMTV. Another woman allegedly believed there was a hidden camera in her hotel room after a worker showed her footage of her own sexual assault that occurred in the room.
Authorities recovered 10 minors and 17 adult victims from an alleged labor trafficking scheme forcing them to work at the hotels “for long hours with little to no pay,” the USAO said, citing a complaint affidavit. They were allegedly forced to pay for “unclean, unsafe, and unhealthy” lodgings at the hotel.
“On one occasion, a source working with the federal government entered a hotel room where immigrant victims were sleeping on the floor of the room with cockroaches crawling on the victims as they slept,” the press release said.
Drug overdoses were rampant at the hotels involved in the scheme and at least one hotel kept a stash of Narcan at the front desk, prosecutors alleged.
“One source cited described a stairwell of one of the hotels as being littered with drug needles,” the press release said. “Drug use was open and notorious in the parking lots according to eyewitnesses and to some online guest reviews.”
Officials alleged that they also recovered an “undetermined amount of illicit drugs” in the case. The case remains an ongoing investigation.