Philadelphia woman admits to locking up disabled people in fraud
Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters
(Reuters) - A Philadelphia woman pleaded guilty and agreed to accept a life sentence on Wednesday for a fraud scheme in which she locked mentally disabled people in closets, attics and basements and took their Social Security and disability benefits, officials said.
The charges against Linda Weston, 55, include sex trafficking, murder in aid of racketeering, theft of government funds and forced human labor, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Weston and her accomplices victimized six mentally disabled adults and four children at homes in Philadelphia, Texas, Virginia and Florida from 2001 through October 2011, until a landlord notified police after seeing several figures in a dark sub-basement.
A plea memo provided by the Justice Department said Weston lured in victims who were estranged from their families by offering a place to stay and pretending to be romantically interested in some.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/philadelphia-woman-admits-locking-disabled-people-fraud-222642079.html
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