Thursday, November 3, 2005

Charges likely in human smuggling case

By David Shepardson / The Detroit News

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DETROIT -- Federal prosecutors have disclosed that they are conducting a wide-ranging probe into the smuggling of eastern European women who are forced to work at Detroit-area strip clubs.

At a court hearing this week, Luis DeBaca, a special litigation counsel with the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said a grand jury is completing its investigation and considering "a whole host of indictments." He declined to elaborate.

Across the country, immigrant women often are required to work as prostitutes or exotic dancers in exchange for help coming to the United States. Some are lured here under the guise of a legitimate job offer.

DeBaca's comments came as the U.S. Attorney's Office filed obstruction of justice charges against three relatives of a lead defendant, Aleksandr Maksimenko.

His stepmother, Anna Gonikman-Starchenko, pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstruction of justice, while his mother and wife also have been charged. His stepmother faces up to a year in prison under a plea agreement.

In September, Maksimenko's business partner, Michail Aronov, a Lithuanian immigrant, admitted to smuggling at least 10 eastern European women into southeast Michigan over four years and imprisoning some who were forced to work as exotic dancers to pay off debts.

The pair and a third man operated a Wayne County company called Beauty Search Inc.

Arnov and Maksimenko are jailed on charges they lured at least four Ukrainian women, two Czech women and four Russian women to the United States with promises of employment and then held them captive in Novi and Livonia.

Prosecutors obtained taped conversations that they said show Maksimenko instructed relatives to empty bank accounts that federal agents hadn't found and destroy ledgers detailing illegal activity.

Authorities say the women were forced to work 12-hour days as exotic dancers at Cheetah's, a Detroit strip club.

Six days a week, the government said, the women were driven to the club to work as dancers and forced to surrender their earnings.

The investigation began in February when two of the women escaped and sought help from federal agents.

You can reach David Shepardson at (313) 222-2028 or dshepardson@detnews.com.