Saudi princess guilty of human trafficking in U.S., maid alleges

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Suitcase in hand, a 30-year-old domestic worker from Kenya flagged down a bus in California and told a passenger she had been held against her will and was a victim of human trafficking.

It wasn’t long before a Saudi princess was under arrest.

Meshael Alayban, who prosecutors said is a wife of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud, appeared Thursday in an Orange County court, but her arraignment was delayed until July 29 at the request of her attorney.

She wore a jail jumpsuit and stood in a prisoner holding area in the courtroom.

The judge also issued a protective order barring her from communicating with the woman from Kenya, whose name was not released.

Alayban, 42, was charged Wednesday with human trafficking. She was arrested at an Irvine condominium that police searched after talking to the Kenyan woman.

The woman told authorities she had been hired in Kenya in 2012 and taken to Saudi Arabia, where her passport was immediately taken. She said she was forced to work excessive hours, was paid less than promised, and was not allowed to leave.

“This is not a contract dispute,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said in court during a bail hearing Wednesday. “This is holding someone captive against their will.”

A judge set Alayban’s bail at $5 million, ordered GPS monitoring and banned her from leaving the county without authorization.

Alayban’s attorney, Paul Meyer, said his client had been traveling to the U.S. since she was a child, owned properties here, and had vowed to address the allegations. “This is a domestic work-hours dispute,” he said.

The Kenyan woman was allowed to have a passport only long enough to enter the U.S., prosecutors said. Once here, she was allegedly forced to tend to at least eight people in four units in the same Irvine complex, washing dishes, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and ironing.

Four other workers from the Philippines left the condominium voluntarily after authorities arrived. They told police they wanted to be free, said Irvine police chief David Maggard Jr.

No charges have been filed related to those women, and police said there were no signs any of the workers had been physically abused.