US authorities in California are charging a Saudi Arabian princess with keeping at least one woman as a slave, and are investigating if four other women were held against their wills as well.

42-year old Meshael Alayban is charged with one count of human trafficking as the investigation unfolds.

Authorities are not releasing the name of the complaining victim.  The Kenyan woman came to their attention this week, carrying her suitcase and flagging down a bus in the Orange County city of Irvine, and asking for help.

A year earlier, she had taken the job as a maid with the family in Saudi Arabia, only to have her passport confiscated and finds herself being forced to work long hours for a fraction of the pay she was promised.

It wasn’t until the entourage went on vacation in America that she had a chance to escape.

“It’s been 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, and slavery has been unlawful in the United States, and certainly in California, all this time, and it’s disappointing to see it in use here,” Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told reporters after the court proceedings.

The princess is in jail in lieu of $5 million bond.  Authorities are investigating the status of four Filipina women also found in the Saudi family's entourage.