Competency may be issue for woman charged in cellar case

An attorney for Linda Ann Weston said he expected to ask a judge to determine if Weston is mentally competent to stand trial for allegedly chaining four adults in a Tacony cellar and stealing their benefit checks.

"At this point, I do not believe she appreciates the seriousness of the charges, and she certainly doesn't appreciate the elements of the offenses," the attorney, George Yacoubian Jr., said after a Monday status hearing.

"She has to be able to communicate with me about this case, and if I can't have an intelligent conversation with her about everything leading up to her arrest, then she certainly is entitled to a competency examination," he said. "What the psychiatrist or psychologist determines is for another day."

Weston, 51; her boyfriend, Gregory Thomas, 47; and a self-proclaimed minister, Eddie Ray Wright, were charged with kidnapping and a slew of other crimes Oct. 15 after four intellectually disabled adults were found locked and chained in a dirt-floored, 6-by-8-foot cellar.

The suspects, all held on bail, were not in court Monday. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Dec. 19.

Weston's daughter, Jean McIntosh, 32, has also been charged with kidnapping in the case, and is due in court Wednesday.

Weston's competency was debated during a 1984 murder trial, when she was convicted of starving a man to death inside the coat closet of her North Philadelphia apartment.

Court-ordered psychiatric evaluations found her to be "mildly mentally retarded" and suffering from "intrinsic brain damage." She was also diagnosed as schizophrenic.

Weston served about four years in jail for her murder conviction.

Perry de Marco Jr., the attorney for Thomas, said competency would be an issue for his client.

Thomas was convicted in Philadelphia for the 1985 rape of an underage girl, according to records. He served nine years in prison.

Police are also trying to get to the bottom of how reporters with local news station Fox29 obtained several identification badges that belonged to Jean McIntosh, Weston's daughter.

Police believe the cards were in McIntosh's apartment, said Philadelphia Lt. Ray Evers, then turned up in the possession of members of the station's news team. Police believe the cards were either given to someone at Fox, or taken from the scene. Police are treating the matter as a criminal investigation, Evers said, but no charges have been filed.

The apartment is in the same Longshore Avenue building in Tacony as the basement dungeon, and is considered a crime scene, Evers said.

"The commissioner is taking this very seriously," Evers said. "So is the District Attorney's Office."

The station declined to comment Monday.

Pictures of the photo badges were televised on the station on the morning of Oct. 19, along with a report that McIntosh had worked at two nursing facilities. The report mentioned that the badges were "given to" Fox.