Four mentally disturbed disabled adults, were found malnourished in a locked boiler room by the buildings landlord on Saturday. Police believe Linda Weston (the ring leader of this scheme) had been stealing their Social Security disability checks, as part of a much-larger fraud.
This twisted crime to collect their benefit checks could be among the first of its kind prosecuted as a federal hate crime, an FBI official said yesterday. The four disabled were kept behind a locked steel door where they were beaten, mistreated and only given water to drink by their captors (pictured above).
The cramped, 6-foot-high, 15-foot-wide bomb shelter was hidden behind the steel door in the basement of Linda Weston’s home and stank of urine and human feces, authorities said. The four were found lying in their own filth.
This story is so disturbing and inhumane, I had an extremely hard time writing about it.
The three suspects, ringleader Linda Ann Weston, her boyfriend Gregory Thomas and accomplice Eddie Wright, all face multiple charges for holding the victims, who authorities say have the mental capacity of 10-year-olds.
Police believe the four, who range in age from 29 to 40 were held so Weston, Thomas and Wright could keep their Social Security checks.
