Federal agents rescued 27 victims and busted a group of hotel owners and managers who were behind an alleged human trafficking ring operating at several hotels in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday.
According to prosecutors, the suspects allegedly ran labor and sex trafficking schemes, harbored illegal immigrants, protected drug dealers and even staged a fake robbery to fraudulently obtain a U visa.
The U.S Attorney Nebraska shared news of the brazen operation, which members of the public reported to trafficking hotlines, on social media:
“BREAKING: 5 people have been charged in a massive federal bust targeting an alleged human trafficking ring at multiple Nebraska hotels. 10 minors and 17 adults were rescued, some as young as 12, who were allegedly forced to work in awful conditions for little or no pay,” the attorney’s office wrote.
🚨 BREAKING: 5 people have been charged in a massive federal bust targeting an alleged human trafficking ring at multiple Nebraska hotels. 10 minors and 17 adults were rescued, some as young as 12, who were allegedly forced to work in awful conditions for little or no pay. 1/4
— U.S. Attorney Nebraska (@USAO_NE) August 12, 2025
The U.S Attorney’s Office in Nebraska announced the federal charges after federal, state and local law enforcement executed search and arrest warrants early Tuesday morning at four Omaha hotels.
BREAKING: FBI and DOJ just busted an alleged human trafficking ring in Nebraska
– 10 minors and 17 adults were rescued
– kids as young as 12
– included labor and s*x trafficking
– harbored illegals
– over $565k seized in illegal proceeds and illicit drugs
– 5 people charged pic.twitter.com/dt25MKVCd1— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 12, 2025
Law enforcement also seized over $565,000 in cash and jewelry, along with illegal drugs, and filed a notice of pending lawsuit on the hotel properties to prevent their sale or transfer.
Federal officials said the five people taken into custody own, operate and manage several hotels in the Omaha metro area:
- Kentakumar “Ken” Chaudhari, 36, of Elkhorn
- Rashmi Ajit “Falguni” Samani, 42, of Elkhorn
- Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari, 32, of Omaha
- Amit “Matt” Babubhai Chaudhari, 33, of Omaha
- Maheshkumar “Mahesh” Chaudhari, 38, of Norfolk
They are facing charges ranging from sex, drug, and labor trafficking; to fraud and misuse of visas; and concealing people from arrest. Four of them had outstanding warrants, authorities said.
Search warrants hit 14 businesses & 2 homes, including AmericInn, The Inn (ex-Super 8), New Victorian Inn, Roadway Inn, & “Brow & Lash” salons. Charged: Kentakumar “Ken” Chaudhari, Rashmi “Falguni” Samani, Amit P. Chaudhari, Amit B. Chaudhari, Maheshkumar Chaudhari. 2/4
— U.S. Attorney Nebraska (@USAO_NE) August 12, 2025
U.S. Attorney Lesley A. Woods also issued a lengthy news release detailing the complex ring that included fraud, exploitation and filthy conditions at the hotels.
The complaint alleges sex trafficking was allowed and encouraged at the hotels, and hotel management work to protect those who participated from being detected by law enforcement.
“There is no evil greater than the evil that seeks to trap, oppress and exploit human beings for profit or pleasure,” Woods said. “Where that evil exists, Nebraska law enforcement working together at the federal, state and local levels, as occurred in this case, will seek it, find it, root it out and ensure every rescued victim has an opportunity to obtain justice and freedom from their captors.”
During a Tuesday news conference, FBI Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said people were forced to work with little or no pay, and that evidence shows drug trafficking was rampant at the hotels, WOWT First Alert 6 News reported.
According to authorities, the victims were required to live at the hotels and forced into sexual activity, essentially exchanging sex for rent.
“They were often told they owed money for rent,” Kowel said. “In order to pay that rent, employees were solicited for sex acts, or solicited to steal property such as retail items like cologne, electronics, clothes and landscaping supplies.”
The hotels were unclean, unsafe and unhealthy with open drug use. Online reviews for the hotel locations detail the firsthand accounts of travelers who stayed there and witnessed illegal activity.
According to the complaint, 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 complaint alleges the suspects forced children under the age of 12 years old to work at the hotels for long hours with little to no pay. Children were also spotted at the hotel when they should have been attending school.
“Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery,” Kowel added in a statement. “This investigation revealed victims right here in the heart of the heartland forced into sexual activity, living and working in dangerous and filthy conditions, and extorted to work in grueling jobs with little to no pay.”
Drug use and overdoses were also rampant at the hotels, and at least one of them had to keep Narcan at the front desk, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“One source cited described a stairwell of one of the hotels as being littered with drug needles,” the release states. “Drug use was open and notorious in the parking lots according to eyewitnesses and to some online guest reviews.”
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.
Kowel, leader of the Omaha FBI Field Office, said simultaneous operations — all part of Operation Summer Heat — were conducted in Omaha, Elkhorn, Bellevue and Norfolk as part of the same investigation.
“Approximately four years ago law enforcement became aware of rampant criminality at many of these locations at these hotels we hit today,” Kowel told WOWT.
One of the defendants is charged with a conspiracy to defraud the United States government through a fraudulent scheme designed to obtain U visas.
According to the complaint, one hotel owner hired a worker to stage a fictitious robbery of one of the Brow and Lash salons in 2022. They planned to use the phony crime to obtain a U visa for one of the other defendants by making her a victim of the robbery, the release states.
Other allegations of fraud include:
- One of the defendants discussed what it would cost to bring someone from India to America and negotiated various prices.
- A number of hotel employees crossed the Arizona border several years ago and reported to Customs and Border Patrol they would be residing at one or more of the defendant’s hotels, indicating it was planned prior to entering the country illegally.
- Aliens were transported by co-conspirators between Nebraska and Washington to fraudulently obtain Washington state driver’s licenses for around $1,000 per identification document.
The Attorney’s Office has alleged that at least one of the suspects was allegedly involved in a sex trafficking conspiracy involving children and adults.
Authorities also confirmed that a January sex trafficking bust at one of the hotels was connected to Tuesday’s operation.
Members of the public reported tips to the FBI and trafficking hotlines about criminal activity going on at one or more hotels.
“Several concerned citizens made calls to human trafficking hotlines in this case about child workers and sex trafficking occurring at some of these hotels,” Agent Kowel said. “We commend those members of our community who stood up and shined a light on these absolutely horrific crimes.”
Authorities are urging anyone with information about trafficking at these or similar locations to contact the Omaha FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Kowel told WOWT in his update on Tuesday that more than 300 law enforcement personnel from 11 agencies participated in the operation.
The investigation included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office, the Omaha Police Department, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Branch, the United States Marshals Service, and the Nebraska State Attorney General’s Office.
