U.S.|4 People Are Found Held Captive in Basement
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4 People Are Found Held Captive in Basement
By Sabrina Tavernise and Timothy Williams
PHILADELPHIA — Scraps from their captivity still littered the basement boiler room where they had been held: A sneaker, some plastic cups, stained blankets and a mayonnaise jar filled with urine.
It was not clear how long the four mentally impaired people were held behind a steel door in a small apartment building in Northeast Philadelphia. But since the building owner discovered them on Saturday, the police here have been seeking about 50 others whose Social Security cards and other identity documents were found in the home of the woman charged with their kidnapping, Linda Ann Weston.
A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Police Department, Jillian Russell, said it was unclear whether the IDs — drivers licenses, Social Security information and power of attorney forms — belonged to people who had been kidnapped or whether the documents had just been stolen.
It is a far-reaching case that involves several jurisdictions, including West Palm Beach, Fla., and Norfolk, Va. Ms. Weston, 51, and two men, Gregory Thomas, 47, and Eddie Wright, 49, have been charged with crimes including kidnapping, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy in the theft of Social Security disability checks from vulnerable people.
Four mentally disabled people were held in a boiler room of a Philadelphia apartment building.Credit...Pool photo by Ron Cortes
Turgut Gozleveli, the owner of the seven-unit building, on Longshore Avenue in the Tacony neighborhood, found the victims, together with several dogs, on Saturday morning. One of the men was chained to a pipe on the boiler, he said, and Mr. Gozleveli used a hacksaw to cut him loose. He said he noticed suspicious activity around the basement area last week, including bowls of water that appeared to be set out for an animal.
"They were tired, beat-up looking, thirsty and hungry," said Mr. Gozleveli, a retired naval officer from Turkey. "They didn't know what world they were living in."
How the victims — identified by the police as Herbert Knowles, Derwin McLemire, Tamara Breeden and Edwin Sanabria — came to be there is still not clear. Charles H. Ramsey, the Philadelphia police commissioner, said it appeared they had been moved from place to place each time suspicions had been raised.
All four captives were taken to a hospital for treatment and appeared to be malnourished.
Some were being sought by their families. Tamara Breeden was from Philadelphia and had been reported missing by her family in 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Another victim had been missing for some time from North Carolina, the paper reported.
Ms. Weston had come to Philadelphia from Florida recently, according to a resident of the building who asked not to be identified. She was staying with one of her children, who was a tenant there.
Ms. Weston met one of the victims, Mr. McLemire, on an online dating service, Officer Russell said.
Chase Scott, a spokesman for the West Palm Beach police, said Ms. Weston had been living with Mr. Thomas, Mr. Thomas's son "and some other juveniles and residents" at a property there.
Eddie Wright was charged with burglary in West Palm Beach this summer.
Mr. Gozleveli said Mr. Wright identified himself as "reverend" when Mr. Gozleveli confronted people on Saturday morning in the apartment where Ms. Weston was staying. He said there were as many as 12 people in the apartment at the time.
Ms. Weston was convicted of murder in Pennsylvania in 1984, at age 24, for beating a man who had gotten her sister pregnant and locking him in a closet, where he later died of starvation. Ms. Weston served about eight years in prison, the Philadelphia police said.
According to The Associated Press, Mr. Knowles was reported missing in Norfolk, Va., in December 2008 after a mental health caseworker could not reach him and family members failed to hear from him. The report described him as "slightly mentally retarded."
The caseworker reported that his Social Security checks were going to a Philadelphia address, the A.P. said. His government benefits were stopped at one point after his mail was forwarded to Philadelphia, but Ms. Weston took Mr. Knowles to a Philadelphia social service agency in 2008 and showed identification, and the checks resumed, the A.P. said, citing a police report.
Mr. Gozleveli said he learned that Ms. Weston was staying there after a neighbor complained about a flea market on the sidewalk. He said he spoke with Ms. Weston and her children about it.
Mr. Gozleveli said that when he first encountered the people in the basement, the only words uttered were from Ms. Breeden: "She said, 'Linda brought us here.' "