Social Security fraud is rampant in our society. One case in point is the recent story regarding Social Security Disability recipients who were held captive in a basement in Philadelphia by a woman, her boyfriend and her daughter. The victims were mentally disabled individuals who were kept in the basement and locked in a closet for approximately two weeks.
Prosecutors in Philadelphia are charging the suspects with kidnapping, aggravated assault and conspiracy, among other charges. The victims were let out of the closet two times a day to eat and sometimes to use the bathroom. Some of the victims showed signs of severe abuse. One of the victims was chained to a furnace and the four were only found when the landlord of the two-story apartment house in the working-class neighborhood was performing a customary check.
The four mentally disabled adults were malnourished and weak as they emerged from the boiler room of the apartment building in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia. The disabled adults have the mental capacity of 10-year-olds. Their captors are also being charged with simple and aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, trespass and burglary.
The case has saddened not only local law enforcement and prosecutor office’s personnel, but the Social Security Administration as well. The reason for all this abuse? Control of the captors’ disability checks.
New charges in the case are expected, and a preliminary hearing is set for mid-December. The suspects, Linda Weston, age 52, her 32-year-old daughter Jean McIntosh, Eddie Wright, age 50, and an associate, Gregory Thomas (Weston’s boyfriend) are certainly not the first, nor the last to engage in such deplorable behavior in order to collect Social Security or SSDI payments.
Linda Weston had been convicted in the past in the starving death of a 25-year-old man and spent time in prison for that crime. It has been determined that several dozen victims from multiple states may have been involved in other cases of Social Security Disability fraud at the hands of Weston. Weston, convicted in 1983 of third-degree murder after she held the man captive in the closet of her apartment in North Philadelphia for three months, was apparently diagnosed as schizophrenic and mentally retarded according to documents related to the case. It appears that other family members of Weston may have been involved and/or considered witnesses, although no charges regarding the current situation have come down on them – at least for now.
According to news reports, Jean McIntosh, the daughter of suspected ringleader, has expressed shock and surprise regarding charges against her mother. Investigation into Weston's past continues and law enforcement personnel are considering re-opening another case of a woman who died in Weston's care in 2008.
Family members of Social Security Disability beneficiaries, especially those diagnosed with mental conditions, the elderly, or the vulnerable, as well as Social Security Administration personnel continue to fight against such incidents and fraud, but unfortunately, such incidents are likely to continue.
There are caregivers, family members, and "friends" who will continue to take advantage of the disabled in order to obtain their Social Security Disability benefits. If you suspect that you, a loved one, or a friend may be the victim of Social Security fraud, contact the Social Security Administration, your local law enforcement or your local Department of Health and Human Services immediately.
