Kriti Mehrotra
It was in 2011 when not only the state of Pennsylvania but the entire nation was left baffled to the core as four elderly people were found being held against their will in deplorable conditions. As explored in ID’s ‘A Body in the Basement: Tacony Dungeon,’ the situation was so bad for them in a basement of a Tacony, Philadelphia apartment building that it soon became known as the Basement of Horrors. At the front and center of it all was actually Linda Ann Weston, who utilized her charm to gain the trust of elderly individuals before working with several others to carry out an extensive fraud.
Linda Weston Has a Criminal History Dating Back to the 1980s
While not a lot of details about Linda Ann Weston’s background, early years, or educational qualifications are public as of writing, she reportedly really cared for her sister at one point in time. According to records, her sister Venus was dating a man named Bernardo Ramos in the early 1980s when she fell pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful child, only for him to refuse to support her or the baby. That’s when Linda hit him in the back of his head with a hammer, locked him in a closet, and starved him for two months until he passed away before disposing of his remains in a parking lot.
As if that’s not enough, Linda allegedly also tortured her younger brother while they were growing up, including locking him in the closet alongside Bernardo when he was merely 11 years old. The brother, who has never identified himself, reportedly remembers that while he and his sister’s other prisoner never spoke since they were both bound as well as gagged, they knew they weren’t getting out of there okay. What was worse for him was that he was ostensibly subsequently forced to help in the disposal after being threatened with a knife – he was tied to Venus the entire time so that he could not escape.
According to the brother’s own accounts, things got worse as time passed by because Linda would “hit me a few times and slammed the door in my face and said, ‘If you make any noise, I will finish the job.'” It was only when she was away one fateful day a few months later that he managed to quietly work his way out of his bounds before trying the closet door and ultimately attaining freedom. The former was arrested for killing Bernardo not long after, just for her brother to testify against her during her jury trial to ensure she was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 8 years in prison. These legal proceedings concluded in 1984, but Linda was released on parole/supervision upon serving 50% of her term.
Linda Weston Masterminded a Benefits Scam From 2001 to 2011
When Linda was residing in an apartment building in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, her landlord, Turgut Gozleveli, grew suspicious of what she was doing in the basement. Therefore, on October 15, 2011, he decided to check it out, just to find four individuals with disabilities being held captive in the filthy, unsafe, and uncomfortable boiler room. He immediately contacted the police, resulting in them uncovering a lot more horrific details, including the fact that Beatrice Weston, the 19-year-old niece Linda had in her custody, had burn marks, bruises, and scars across her body.
As per court records, a total of 6 adults and 4 children were rescued from Linda’s clutches that year, with her having managed to convince the adults to trust her with their finances. Once that was done, she not only took over access to their Social Security checks, disability funds, or any other state benefits they received, but she also locked them up in closets or basements. Working alongside her were her daughter Jean McIntosh as well as three men, with the help of whom she carried out her scheme in Florida, Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, moving every few years to avoid detection. The fact that she usually preyed on elderly people with mental disabilities who were estranged from their families also helped her along the way before she ultimately defrauded and tortured them.
According to federal records, Linda always kept her prisoners compliant by sedating them through harsh drugs in the minimal food and water she provided. Furthermore, if they ever tried speaking out, stealing more food, or escaping, she brutally “punished them by slapping, punching, kicking, stabbing, and hitting them” with a range of weapons, including bats, belts, hammers, or the backs of guns. She kept them isolated for years and years, until she allegedly wished to prostitute them to produce kids that would provide additional benefits. She did all this from 2001 to 2011, during which two older women died – Donna Spadea passed away in June 2005, whereas Maxine Lee died of bacterial meningitis as well as starvation in November 2008.
Linda Weston is Currently Serving a Life Term in Federal Prison
While Linda was arrested in October 2011, this entire case was brought to a close in 2015 when she pleaded guilty to several of the charges against her. On September 15, 2015, when she pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, kidnapping resulting in death, forced human labor, involuntary servitude, multiple counts of murder in aid of racketeering, hate crime, violent crime in aid of racketeering, sex trafficking, kidnapping, theft of government funds, wire fraud, mail fraud, use of a firearm for a violent crime, and false statements.
As a result, Linda Weston was sentenced to life in prison plus 80 years as well as handed down an order to pay back more than $270,000 in restitution on November 5, 2015. Thus, today, at the age of 65, she remains incarcerated at the mixed-security Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is expected to remain for the rest of her natural life.
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