CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- The mother of a woman accused of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves tried to bribe a victim's relative to make the case go away, prosecutors said.

The accused woman, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, were being held in jail on Friday, a day after the new charges arose at their arraignment.

The millionaire couple _ who operate a worldwide perfume business out of their Long Island home _ pleaded not guilty to federal slavery charges.

They were arrested last week after one of the servants, wearing only pants and a towel, was found wandering outside a doughnut shop in Syosset, on the region's so-called Gold Coast. Authorities concluded she escaped the Sabhnanis' nearby Muttontown home when she took out the trash.

Unable to speak English fluently, she showed her wounds and Indonesian passport to a shop worker and said, "Mister, mister, I want to go home _ Indonesia," said Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo.

Prosecutors said Thursday that Varsha Sabhnani's mother, who lives in Indonesia, tried to make the case go away by bribing a son-in-law of one of the servants with the equivalent of $2,500. They also said Varsha Sabhnani had earlier told the other victim that her husband, who still lives in Indonesia, would be arrested unless she followed orders.

"The defendants operated a torture house," federal prosecutor Mark Lesko said. "They are capable of acts of violence."...

...Legowo said the two women came from Indonesia's West Java province and were brought to the New York area in 2002 by Varsha Sabhnani, who was born in Indonesia and speaks Indonesian...

...Prosecutors said the women were beaten, scalded and forced to climb stairs repeatedly and take as many as 30 showers in three hours _ all as punishment for perceived misdeeds. They said one was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at one time.

They have since been cared for by Catholic Charities, according to a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Francis came to the United States as a refugee in 1999, three years after he escaped from his master in Northern Sudan. He is pictured here with his wife, Atong, and two children, Buk (1 ½) and Dhal (11 weeks).