Police: Woman who held 4 in cellar may have preyed on dozens

[The Northerner]

The woman charged with keeping four adults with mental disabilities locked in a squalid Tacony basement while collecting their Social Security checks may have victimized dozens of others, police said on Monday.

When Linda Ann Weston was arrested on Sunday, she had identification records for as many as 50 people in her possession, including power of attorney paperwork, forms of identification, and Social Security numbers, according to Philadelphia Police Lt. Ray Evers. The documents suggest that Weston has been running a wide-ranging fraud operation, he said.

"She might have been doing this for years, probably since she got out of prison," Evers said.

Weston, 51, served eight years in prison for killing a 25-year-old man who starved to death in her North Philadelphia apartment in 1981. She was sentenced in 1985.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/132024928.html

[Lucinda]

1. I don't have any words....

At least not words that I can type here.

[slackmaster]

4. That's very strange

:argh:

[Stuart G]

5. What some do for money is unprintable...

[HipChick]

2. The depth of human depravity..

the mind boggles.

[Odin2005]

3. Monsterous! Horrifying!

:grr:

[idiotgardener]

6. This is the kind of story that makes me want to give up.

There are people doing years for political reasons, for selling pot, etc. and this woman gets 8 years for starving someone to death? Sometimes it just feels like there's more to fix than can ever get fixed.

I hope the judge has the sense to sentence her to life this time.

[snagglepuss]

9. My sentiments exactly. How is justice served when someone gets only 8 years for

starving someone? Totally outrageous.

[Stuart G]

7. If you read the entire story..then you will find this:

That these people were on the run, and that they may have been in Florida and Texas doing the same thing. The police are putting together as much as they can. It is going to be a while till everything is sorted out.
..An almost unbelieveable story of evil...

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. The question is, then, where are the people these IDs belong to?

Are they still alive? Are they chained up in other houses, starving now since their exploiters are in jail?

[cliffordu]

10. Here's an argument for the death penalty.

She should NEVER have been allowed to prey on ANYONE after

STARVING A HUMAN BEING TO DEATH.

Are you fucking kidding me?

She STARVED a human to death.

It took weeks, if not MONTHS.

[annm4peace]

11. we need more funding for social workers

this is another casualty of cuts to social services. Our politicans need to grow up.

I hope there is a lawsuit that includes money for social workers to check on their clients to make sure caregivers aren't corrupt

[msanthrope]

13. Wouldn't have helped in this case--they made a habit of skipping jurisdictions.

They've been in Philly a month.

[proud patriot]

12. remember the movie arsenic and old lace?

[msanthrope]

14. These people are serial killers. The FBI is now tracking their movements.

Mark my words, there will be bodies.

[Lucinda]

15. More information - article link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/17/national/main20121676.shtml


(AP) PHILADELPHIA - The landlord of the apartment building at first thought a circuit breaker had tripped when he went to the basement Saturday and found all the lights were out. Then he realized all six bulbs had been removed, and he heard dogs barking inside a boiler room, its door chained shut.
He removed the chain, stepped into the dank, foul-smelling room and lifted a pile of blankets. Several sets of human eyes stared back at him.

Turgut Gozleveli had stumbled upon four mentally disabled adults, all weak and malnourished, and one chained to the boiler.

He may have also stumbled upon a vast scheme — stretching from Philadelphia to Norfolk, Virginia; West Palm Beach, Florida, and Texas — to steal the monthly Social Security disability checks of defenseless and vulnerable people, authorities said.

Philadelphia police on Saturday arrested three adults staying in an apartment upstairs, including the person accused of being the ringleader, Linda Ann Weston, who had been convicted of murder in a 1981 starvation death..."


Much more at link above

video link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/17/national/main20121334.shtml