UPDATE: Weston pleaded guilty to all 196 counts against her including kidnapping and racketeering.
A woman accused of holding adults with disabilities in a Philadelphia apartment building sub-basement is expected in federal court Wednesday to change her plea in the case.
Authorities indicted Linda Weston and three family members in the alleged fraud scheme. Weston and her family conspired to keep the victims captive while they collected and cashed their Social Security checks, the U.S. Attorney said.
Tamara Breeden, who was given a $45-million ruling for the pain and suffering she endured, and three other adults, all mentally disabled, were discovered in a tiny boiler room in the basement of a Tacony apartment building in October 2011. Federal prosecutors said the victims, who all have the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, were beaten, drugged and malnourished. One man was found chained to the boiler.
The room where they were kept was so small an adult could not stand up, according to prosecutors. It has been referred to as a dungeon in media reports.
Two of Weston's co-defendants pleaded guilty in the case while Weston earlier pleaded not guilty to racketeering and conspiracy counts.
Weston is expected to appear in federal court Wednesday morning to "change her plea," said prosecutors.
Weston previously served eight years in prison for the 1981 death of a man that was kept chained up in the closet of her North Philadelphia home. He died of malnourishment.
