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Four locked in basement
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A lack of accountability and follow-through by police and government agencies may have contributed to the plight of four mentally disabled adults authorities say were locked in a basement while a convicted murderer stole their government pension checks. Police in Philadelphia and Florida missed opportunities to help one or more of the victims while the woman charged with orchestrating the scheme was legally disqualified from cashing the victims' government disability checks because of her criminal past. Linda Ann Weston, 51, was charged Monday with kidnapping, false imprisonment and other offenses after her landlord stumbled on the four adults, all weak and malnourished, in a dank, foul-smelling boiler room on Saturday.