Police say kidnappers of disabled adults may have 50 victims

I find this article very disturbing. At what point do you stop calling a person a human and call them an animal, as these people have clearly shown themselves to be. How can someone do this sort of thing to another human? If it is a financial matter, why don't they go to work and EARN the money? In my opinion, stealing is wrong (and illegal) but this just takes the cake. How can you steal from someone and keep them locked up like that, especially someone with the mentality of a children? It just makes my heart sick to think about this and the fact that we are de evolving or something. It just goes to show that many people are controlled by the power of money.

news.yahoo.com...;

Police said on Tuesday they were investigating whether a convicted killer arrested for kidnapping four mentally challenged adults to steal their Social Security checks may have as many as 50 victims.

More than 30 years ago, Weston was convicted of starving to death a 25-year-old man in her apartment in North Philadelphia and, after her sentencing in 1985, served eight years in prison, authorities said.

One victim was chained to the furnace in the building's basement, and the others were locked in a room with no bathroom. "They had buckets instead of a toilet," a police spokeswoman said. "(The landlord) called 911 right away, and police responded to that address," she said.

I have a couple of solutions to this type of behavior-but the people guilty of this crime in jail (wherein the tax payers would have to pay for their food, lodging, and health bills, or well let's just say a lead pill is much more effective and much cheaper. I realize that is not a viable option at this time, but it just irks me that this type of behavior cannot be justified, anyway you look at it.

A resident of the two-story tan stucco building in the working class neighborhood of Tacony said she had no inkling of the horrors beneath her first-floor apartment. "I didn't know anything about it until I saw it on television," said Jennifer Brady, mother of three. A neighbor who lives across the street, Jennifer McCrink, 35, out for a stroll with her child, said she did not know the new tenants. "I couldn't believe it happened right here," she said. "Horrible."

Also, this bothers me as well- how in the world can you NOT know what is going on in your neighborhood? I know most people tend to try to mind thier own business, but at what cost? Don't people notice things that are out of place? I live in a small community and sadly everyone knows your business before you do, haha, but I would think that even in larger cities, someone would notice something out of the ordinary. However, as the case may be, they didn't. This is disturbing, because I wonder how many other places these types of things happen, that have not been discovered.

I worked closely for years as a counselor with a victim of this same abuse. He was one of 2 guys held captive by 2 brothers who used them for their social security checks. They were captive for about 7 years, chained to radiators, ate dog food, were beaten relentlessly, the whole 9 yards. The 2 sickos eventually got caught and received prison sentences that would far exceed their life spans.

Their PTSD was extreme from that experience, thankfully people are able to recover and live happy and normal lives after such an ordeal, but the memories of that experience live forever. This kind of thing seems to happen with disabled/ mentally challenged people more often than you'd think unfortunately.

reply to post by Veritas1

Do not take this the wrong way. Everything about this is disgusting.

I can understand how this could happen, without the other residents of the building, knowing anything about it. But how could they not know, after the victims were found, and after the arrests? She lived in the building, but didn't find out about this until she saw it on TV. You would think that maybe the cops would immediately interview everyone who lived in the building.

A resident of the two-story tan stucco building in the working class neighborhood of Tacony said she had no inkling of the horrors beneath her first-floor apartment.

"I didn't know anything about it until I saw it on television," said Jennifer Brady, mother of three.

I was just now searching to see if they had been able to contact any of the people from those ID's, or if any conclusions had been reached about any of them still living.

Came across this:

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) -- [color=A0E876]A fourth person was arrested in in the case of four mentally disabled people who were found locked in the boiler room of a Philadelphia apartment building over the weekend, police said Wednesday.

[color=A0E876]The daughter of Linda Ann Weston, .......

The woman, whose name was not given, likely will face the same charges as her mother and two other suspects, which include criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, kidnapping, criminal trespass, unlawful restraint and false imprisonment, O'Brien said. More information will be released later Wednesday, she said. No bail had been set.

www.thedenverchannel.com...

Another link- www.wfmz.com...

When she rented a house in [color=A0E876]Norfolk, Va., in 2008, Linda Ann Weston told the landlord she was providing care for the three disabled women who moved in with her.

Social Security checks began to arrive shortly after the group moved in Oct. 1, said landlord Mohammad Zarandi.

On Nov. 13, an ambulance was called for one of Weston's wards: [color=A0E876]Maxine Lee, 39. She was [color=A0E876]pronounced dead at the scene. A medical examiner cited the cause as acute bacterial meningitis and noted she also suffered from cachexia, a wasting syndrome. He [color=A0E876]ruled that her death was from natural causes.

[color=A0E876]The rest of the women in the house bolted immediately, Zarandi said.

[color=A0E876]Norfolk Police Officer Chris Amos said Tuesday that there were no signs of foul play in Lee's death and that Weston was never a suspect.

www.philly.com...

What the hell."The rest of the women bolted immediately." but "there were no signs of foul play"??
uumm.Isn't the bolting, a 'sign of foul play'?

Originally posted by Veritas1

I find this article very disturbing.

...and it continues getting even more disturbing.

[color=FFDF94]Police Investigating Philadelphia Dungeon Rescue 10 Others, Including Children

Police investigating the Philadelphia basement dungeon ......took ten children and teens into protective custody Tuesday night,

Some of the young people, ranging in age from 2 to 19, were rescued around 5:30 p.m. local time, reportedly near the apartment building in Philadelphia's Tacony neighborhood, where the four original victims were discovered Saturday morning.

"It's a very complicated case," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. "It continues to unfold. This is another major step."

"At least we were able to locate several children that we were concerned about," Ramsey added. "That's the good news. Bad news is some of them were not treated very well. In fact, one has some pretty serious injuries.

[color=B3FF87]The ten young people all have ties to the case. Two of the children were born to Tamara Breeden, who is one of the four original victims. Breeden was a missing woman from Philadelphia whose case was marked "closed" last year.

Police also found Weston's niece, Beatrice Weston, who was reported missing in 2009.

www.foxnews.com...

www.philly.com...