As we reported yesterday three men and a woman, each with the mental capacity of no more than 10, were found living in squalid conditions, behind a locked steel door, in the sub-basement of an apartment building.
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| KNOWLES |
The low-ceiling, dank room contained a mattress with some bedding and a flat board with a pillow, and a boiler but there was no food and just a few water bottles.
The identity of one victim has been revealed as Herbert Knowles, who went missing three years ago from his home in Norfolk, Virginia.
His niece Tiffany Davis told WAVY said he'd told his family three-years ago that was moving in with a girlfriend and her mother, Linda Weston - one of those now accused of masterminding the twisted scheme.
She said: "The way they describe him, as if he was some kind of animal. You got him chained in the basement. All the lights are out. There are buckets for him to use the bathroom."
Linda Ann Weston, 51, Thomas Gregory, 47, and Eddie Wright, 49, with kidnapping them, so they could cash their social security checks.
Cops now believe the ringleader, Weston, may have as many as 50 victims of her sinister torture and fraud schemes.
Their captors meanwhile were charged with criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, kidnapping, criminal trespass, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and related offenses.
Federal charges could also be added, Lt Raymond Evers toldthe paper, adding: "We're going to find every crime possible in the crime code to put on these individuals."
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