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	Agents Search for Former Sikh Priest, Believed Missing with Teenage Girl By Gene Johnson The Associated Press, carried in The Seattle Times June 15, 2006 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003062016_websikh14.html Seattle – Federal agents said Wednesday they are searching for a former Sikh priest named in a human trafficking indictment this month. He is believed to be with a teenage girl recently smuggled into the U.S. from India. Harchand Singh was one of four men named in a 30-count federal indictment June 7, alleging a conspiracy to smuggle women from India to Canada and from there into Washington state. Three of the men were arrested and pleaded not guilty to the charges this week. But Mike McCool, with the Seattle office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents have been unable to find Singh. The identity of the girl was not released, but she could be in danger, he said. Prosecutors wrote in court papers that another woman smuggled as part of the alleged conspiracy said Singh raped her. "We are concerned about the violence that goes on with some of these individuals who are smuggled in," McCool said, holding a photo of Singh. "They are at the behest of the smugglers." Prosecutors wrote that several witnesses identified Singh as a priest at a Renton temple. But Harinder Paul Singh Bains, the president of the temple, which is called Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Washington, said Harchand Singh was fired three years ago and hasn't been back since. "He's not our priest anymore," Bains said. "He was just not doing the job." Bains said he did not know where Singh might be and knows little about him. He did say the wanted man is not the same Harchand Singh who is a dentist in Tukwila, and who also was formerly involved with the temple. On Tuesday, the first of the arrested defendants, Rajpal Singh Padda of suburban Kent, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Padda came to the attention of authorities in April when he posted $190,000 bail for a defendant in another, apparently related alleged smuggling ring, for which eleven people were indicted in Seattle. The two others arrested this week, Surinder Singh Sohal of Des Moines and David Matusicky of British Columbia, pleaded not guilty at their initial appearance in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors said the four defendants smuggled five women into the U.S. The women agreed to pay $15,000 to $40,000 each for the transport from Bombay to Toronto, then Vancouver, British Columbia. They were driven to the border, and an unknown man walked them across. Another man picked them up and brought them to Kent, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisca Borichewski and Ye-Ting Woo wrote in asking a judge to order the men detained. They were kept in a house and sometimes a motel in Kent, and one of them said she was raped by Harchand Singh and Padda, prosecutors said. Four of the women, including the alleged rape victim, managed to escape and call authorities, but the fifth — believed to be 17 — has not been located. Hotel records showed that the rooms the women were kept in were paid for by Matusicky and Sohal, the prosecutors said. Borichewski said the four who escaped are being kept in safe houses and will not be charged with any crimes. Victims of human trafficking are able to seek legal status in the U.S.
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