Second defendant pleads guilty in Tacony dungeon case

A self-described ordained preacher faces the prospect of life in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to federal charges that he helped detain, abuse, and exploit mentally disabled people held captive in what has become known as Philadelphia's Tacony dungeon case.

Eddie Ray Wright, 54, became the second of five defendants to plead guilty in a scheme whose alleged ringleader, Linda Ann Weston, is charged with defrauding the Social Security Administration by targeting, confining, and abusing people while stealing their disability benefits.

The Justice Department has not decided whether to pursue the death penalty against Weston, who was indicted by federal authorities more than two years ago in connection with crimes committed from 2001 to 2011 in four states, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Rich Barrett. No trial date will be set until that decision from Washington.

Weston's daughter, Jean McIntosh, pleaded guilty in December. Cases against two others are pending.

Wright, in his appearance before the judge Thursday, pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping, forced human labor, violent crime in the aid of racketeering, and conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon.

He faces a maximum of life in prison and $5,250,000 in fines. The judge did not set a sentencing date, given the government's pending case against the others.

Wright said little after being escorted into court wearing a prison jumpsuit and eyeglasses.

"Hi, Eddie. How are you?" asked his lawyer, Brendan T. McGuigan.

"Pretty good," Wright said with a warm smile before taking a seat next to his attorney.

Wright went on to answer a series of questions posed by U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe. In almost every instance, his reply was simply, "Yes, ma'am."

Known as "Pastor Wright" and by his birth name, Eddie Brown, Wright said he is a military veteran who has not held a job since working at a Taco Bell in 1995.

He feels good, he said, as long as he takes two daily doses of Depakote for seizures.

Wright said he graduated from high school, studied at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Colo., and served with the Army in Iran in November 1979, where he was injured while driving behind a tank in an armored vehicle.

"One of the rocks came up from the tank and got me in the head," Wright said. Seizures resulting from that are treated by the Depakote, he told the judge. Wright said he has no history of mental illness or substance abuse.

In 2006, Wright said, he became an ordained pastor in Texas. In 2009 in Killeen, Texas, he met Weston and joined her criminal enterprise, he said, eventually hopscotching across the country with her and her captives before they arrived in Philadelphia.

In October 2011, Philadelphia police responded to a report by a landlord on the 4700 block of Longshore Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.

Officers went into a basement boiler room of a house on that block and detected a smell they described only as "death," Assistant U.S. Attorney Faithe Moore Taylor recounted to Rufe before Wright entered his guilty plea.

Four mentally challenged adults were locked there.

Prosecutors have alleged that Weston's captives were beaten, malnourished, and, in some cases, made to consume their own urine and feces.

In state court, Wright nearly succeeded in having charges against him thrown out. His lawyer had argued that Wright was a captive rather than an aggressor. That effort failed as prosecutors presented evidence that he was free to roam around during the day and had done other things to help Weston transport and house those in captivity.

Federal authorities eventually took over the case and announced charges in January 2013.

In November, one of the four people found in the Tacony home won a $45 million jury verdict.