PHILADELPHIA — A paroled killer targeted mentally disabled adults in a scheme to steal their Social Security benefits, confining them like ‘‘zoo animals,’’ forcing some into prostitution, and causing the deaths of two victims through abuse and neglect, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Linda Weston, 52, of Philadelphia, was indicted on charges including hate crimes, kidnapping, murder in aid of racketeering, and forced human labor.
Aren't all crimes hate crimes? Who commits a crime out of love? Bankers? War criminal liars?
The case came to light in October 2011 after a landlord discovered four malnourished victims locked in the basement of a Philadelphia apartment building, one of them chained to a boiler.
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FLASHBACKS:
"3 accused of abusing disabled adults" October 17, 2011|By Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Three people have been charged after the discovery of four malnourished mentally disabled adults chained to a boiler in a locked northeast Philadelphia basement room that was too small for an adult to stand up straight and also reeked of waste, police said yesterday.
Officers were investigating a report of squatters in a building Saturday when they found three men and a woman in a 15-by-15-foot room behind a steel door that was chained shut. The subbasement room resembled a Cold War-era bomb shelter and contained a makeshift bed, mattress and sheets, said Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman....
Federal charges could also be added, Lieutenant Raymond Evers told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We’re going to find every crime possible in the crime code to put on these individuals,’’ Evers said....
I wish they would say that about bankers.
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"Discovery of captives points to fraud" October 18, 2011|Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Dozens of pieces of identification and power of attorney documents have been discovered after a Philadelphia landlord found four mentally disabled adults locked in the basement of his building, a discovery that points toward a wide-ranging fraud scheme, police said yesterday.
Investigators are still processing the documents and reaching out to authorities in multiple jurisdictions while they try to find the family of one of the victims rescued Saturday from what police called deplorable conditions, Lieutenant Ray Evers said.
Evers said Linda Ann Weston is suspected of running a longstanding fraud operation. Authorities say Weston and two other suspects may have been holding the four people found in the basement hostage and collecting their disability checks.
“Without a doubt, this is just the beginning of this investigation,’’ Evers said.
Police said the four mentally disabled adults were rescued from the basement of the northeast Philadelphia apartment building on Saturday after the landlord shined a flashlight behind a steel door that had been chained shut. One victim had been shackled to the boiler, police said....
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"Woman accused of locking 4 in basement escaped previous scrutiny" October 19, 2011|Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - A lack of accountability and follow-through by police and government agencies may have contributed to the plight of four mentally disabled adults authorities say were locked in a basement while a convicted murderer stole their Social Security checks.
Where is the government snooping when you really need it?
Police in Philadelphia and West Palm Beach, Fla., missed opportunities to help one or more of the victims while the woman charged with orchestrating the scheme was legally disqualified from cashing the victims’ government disability checks because of her criminal past.
WTF?
Linda Ann Weston, 51, was charged Monday with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and other offenses after her landlord stumbled on the four adults, all weak and malnourished, in a dank, foul-smelling boiler room Saturday. One man was chained to the boiler.
Also charged were Eddie “the Rev. Ed’’ Wright, 50, whom Weston described as her boyfriend, and Gregory Thomas, 47.
The three remained jailed yesterday....
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Related: 2 more youth in basement case under protection
