The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office re-filed charges Thursday against a fourth defendant for his alleged role in a case involving four mentally disabled adults who were found locked in a filthy basement as part of an alleged Social Security fraud scheme.
The re-file comes just two days after Judge Patrick Dugan dropped charges against Eddie Wright during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday — siding with his attorney who argued Wright was a victim, not a perpetrator, because he was sometimes held captive in the basement.
Wright is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on January 20 of next year, where he will again have to face aggravated assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint and other related charges for the alleged crime.
Wright’s alleged accomplices -- 51-year-old Linda Ann Weston, her daughter, Jean McIntosh, and her boyfriend, Gregory Thomas -- already have been ordered to stand trial.
All four were arrested in October after a landlord told police he found four adults living in a dirty basement inside a home in Philadelphia's Tacony neighborhood. One was allegedly chained to a boiler.
