Motel owners' home raided

SEATAC, Wash. — Two of the motel owners arrested in federal raids Tuesday are brothers who appear to have been living well.

In a SeaTac neighborhood of modest homes, one house stands apart.

According to court papers, two of the motel owners, Kulwinder "Chris" Saroya and Jaspal Singh, are brothers who live in the six-bedroom, six-bath house together with their families.

The house has palm trees and statues of an elephant, a lion, a giraffe and a pair of alligators out front.

Juan Ramirez rents the house next door from the owners of the big house.

"They're very quiet people and it's weird for us, it’s really weird for us," Ramirez said.

Neighbors knew the brothers were in the motel business. But they never suspected anything illegal.

"You would never know anything was going on," Wally Barron said. "They looked like the nicest people in the world. They've always kept to themselves. They've been great neighbors."

Federal agents spent much of Tuesday at the home, removing evidence.

One investigator drove a Mercedes out of the garage with the vanity license plate "Saroya."

It has presumably been taken into impound.

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