As reported on the KLTV website KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News
An East Texas psychiatrist has been arrested and charged in connection with what’s being described as a ‘forced labor conspiracy’ in New York.
Riyaz Mazcuri, was arrested Thursday by the Gregg County Sheriff's Office and booked in the jail on a federal warrant.
According to documents from the federal court in the Southern District of New York, Mazcuri, known as ‘The Doctor,’ was indicted along with three other men accused of organizing a human trafficking organization.
Mazcuri is a psychiatrist who has practiced in Texas for several years in Houston and most recently at a facility in Kilgore.
Federal court documents state the men would hire female dancers in India under the assumption they would perform cultural programs in the United States. Prosecutors allege when they would get to the U.S., the women would be forced to dance in nightclubs in front of men for twelve to fourteen hours per night, seven nights a week. Some of the performers were reportedly engaged in prostitution. The men would reportedly force the women to perform by confiscating their passports and by threatening them with physical violence.
The group reportedly operated in New York and in other locations from 2008 to 2010.
According to jail records, Mazcuri has a Houston address. He appeared before a judge via video conference Friday afternoon where a judge allowed Mazcuri to be released on $300,000 bond. Mazcuri must now appear before a judge in a New York City federal court on August 1.
