Linda Weston, accused of imprisoning four mentally handicapped adults.
You wouldn’t think the story of four mentally challenged adults held prisoner in a Philadelphia basement could get any uglier.
But a woman whose aunt is accused of holding her and the three others in the furnace room testified last week that she was forced into prostitution, made to drink her own urine and had her teeth knocked out, Reuters reported.
At a pre-trial preliminary hearing, Beatrice Weston, 20, said her aunt, Linda Weston, 51, would seek out men in a parking lot when they were living in Texas.
“She would call them up and make me have sex with them,” said Beatrice Weston, who told the court about years of captivity. She lived with her aunt since age 10, moving around between Philadelphia, Florida, Texas and Virginia. She also said another captive, Tamara Breeden, now 29, was forced into prostitution as well.
Beatrice Weston also described repeated beatings with baseball bats, and once with a hammer, saying she and Breeden both had their teeth knocked out. Once in Florida, she was forced by her aunt to drink her own urine, she testified.
Linda Weston is accused of being the ringleader of two other people – her daughter Jean McIntosh, 32, and Gregory Thomas, 47 – who allegedly imprisoned the victims. Charges against a third accused accomplice, Eddie Wright, 50, were dismissed Tuesday.
But Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan decided at the end of last week’s hearing that Linda Weston, McIntosh and Thomas would go to trial on charges of kidnapping, conspiracy and assault. Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Yankolonis asked for an additional charge of promoting prostitution, after Beatrice Weston’s testimony.
Follow