{"id":69055,"date":"2026-01-18T14:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/2026\/01\/18\/indian-motel-operators-kosha-and-tarun-sharma-arrested-in-drug-and-sex-trafficking-case-profiting-from-human-suffering\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:55:18","slug":"indian-motel-operators-kosha-and-tarun-sharma-arrested-in-drug-and-sex-trafficking-case-profiting-from-human-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/2026\/01\/18\/indian-motel-operators-kosha-and-tarun-sharma-arrested-in-drug-and-sex-trafficking-case-profiting-from-human-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian motel operators Kosha and Tarun Sharma arrested in drug and sex trafficking case: \u2018Profiting from human suffering\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Two Indian hotel operators have been arrested and charged in connection with a drug and sex trafficking operation at the Red Carpet Inn in Virginia. 52-year-old Kosha Sharma and 55-year-old Tarun Sharma<\/a> were taken into custody after an FBI raid on Thursday, part of a multi-year investigation.The Sharmas are married and are now accused of using the third floor of their motel for drug sales and prostitution while keeping guests on the lower floors. Court documents allege that they profited from illegal activity conducted at the property under the name Kosha LLC, doing business as Red Carpet Inn.\u201cDrug trafficking and sex trafficking devastate communities by exploiting vulnerable individuals and fueling violence and addiction,\u201d said Lindsey Halligan, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. She added: \u201cOur office is committed to dismantling criminal enterprises that profit from human suffering. Working alongside our law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold offenders accountable and disrupt the cycles of exploitation that threaten our communities.\u201dThe charges include conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including fentanyl. If convicted, the Sharmas face a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison.Since May 2023, authorities conducted nine prostitution encounters and 15 controlled purchases of narcotics at the Sharma’s owned motel. Eleven of the purchases were for fentanyl and four for cocaine. Other defendants arrested include Margo Waldon Pierce, Joshua Roderick, and Rashard Perrish Smith, who allegedly distributed drugs or assisted in the operation. This makes up 5 total involved in the combined crimes.About 60\u202fper\u202fcent of hotels in the United States are owned by Indian\u2011origin hoteliers, mostly through the Asian American Hotel Owners Association\u2019s membership, which runs tens of thousands of properties nationwide. This mostly involves economy and mid\u2011scale hotels.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Two Indian hotel operators have been arrested and charged in connection with a drug and sex trafficking operation at the Red Carpet Inn in Virginia. 52-year-old Kosha Sharma and 55-year-old…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braking-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/126644547.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}