Philadelphia police: Disabled were victimized by theft scheme

http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20111017-philadelphia-police-disabled-were-victimized-by-theft-scheme.ece ^ | 10/18/2011 | AP

[Morgana]

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 Va., and West Palm Beach, Fla. — to steal the 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 alleged ringleader, Linda Ann Weston, 51, who had been convicted of murder in a 1981 starvation death.

Detectives also found dozens of ID cards, power-of-attorney forms and other documents in the apartment, suggesting the alleged theft scheme involved more than just the four captives.

“Without a doubt. This is just the beginning of this investigation,” Lt. Ray Evers said Monday. “We think she's being doing this for quite some time.”

Exactly how long, how much money the scheme brought in, precisely how the disabled were deceived, and how many people in all were victimized are still unclear, investigators said. The FBI has joined the investigation.

Weston was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and other offenses, with bail set at $2.5 million. Also arrested and jailed were the man she described as her boyfriend, Eddie “the Rev. Ed” Wright, 50, and 47-year-old Gregory Thomas.

[Still Thinking]

There’s a special dedicated level of hell just for people like this.

[expat1000]

POS

[wizardoz]

I won’t even describe what I’d like to do to these three people. Let’s just say that they bring out the subhuman in ME.

[Seanm]

Mac daddy loses his choice for czar of the agency for the aging.

[2banana]

I’m guessing she voted for obama...

[Reddy]

Saw a picture of one of the victims smiling broadly from his hospital bed.

That these 3 inhuman beings could do this to the mentally disabled is beyond comprehension.

But it is not beyond comprehension that the mentally handicapped victim was able to smile from his hospital bed despite all he had been through. He is a better person than his torturers. God bless him and the others.