Second Defendant Pleads Guilty In Basement Of Horrors Case
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A second defendant has pleaded guilty in an alleged disability-benefit scheme in which prosecutors say mentally disabled people were held captive and abused.
Eddie Ray Wright pleaded guilty Thursday to 22 counts including kidnapping, forced human labor, violent crime in the aid of racketeering, and conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon.
The 54-year-old who says he's an ordained pastor faces up to life in prison and $5.25 million in fines. No sentencing date has been set.
Wright and three others were charged after four mentally disabled people were rescued in October 2011 from a basement boiler room in the city's Tacony neighborhood. Officials believe two people while held.
Prosecutors say they were beaten, raped, starved and forced to drink urine and moved to various states to avoid capture.
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