No trafficking charges resulted, though two alleged San Francisco brothel owners pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of alien harboring.
The raids led to Mao's indictment, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Carmen Luege. The case has not produced trafficking charges either.
Ironically, what Diamond calls the "fundamentalist, evangelical base" could aptly describe Mao. Deeply religious, according to those who know her, she sends her teenage daughter to an evangelical Christian private school in the San Gabriel Valley.
Federal tax records show that Mao has contributed heavily to Christian groups. In 2004 alone, her charitable foundation donated more than $170,000, including $40,000 to her Hacienda Heights church, Hosanna Presbyterian, and $95,000 to MXers for Jesus, a group that holds religious services at motocross races. Neither officials from the church nor the MXers group could be reached for comment.
In the family-centered world of dirt bike racing, Mao was known for her devotion to her 16-year-old son's budding amateur career.
"She was a motocross mom," said Andrew Campo, a freelance journalist who met Mao on the racing circuit and is her spokesman.
Mao purchased a motor home to transport her son and his motorcycles to races across the country and arranged for home-schooling to free his schedule. Her racetracks were both a business venture and an investment in her son, Campo said.
Campo, who lived at the Palestine track with Mao and her family most of March, said his boss' days revolved around her son's grueling daily training, which began with bike prep at 7 a.m., followed by morning gym workouts and riding through much of the day. Mao prepared healthy fare for her son and other racers in training, Campo said, and ran errands so they wouldn't be interrupted.
She also prayed a lot, said Alan McDonald, the caretaker who maintains the track, which remains open on weekends. "She prayed for two hours straight," he said.
McDonald, who believes that Mao is innocent, called her "the best boss I've ever had." She offered to help pay his medical bills after his hospitalization for a heart condition, McDonald said.
Mao charged riders $15 a head to practice their moves on weekends. Eventually, she planned to develop a series of nationally sanctioned races, which would draw thousands of spectators to her tracks, Campo said, and build lodging at the tracks for the spectators.
