Police in Texas have freed four men from a north Houston home where they were held captive in an alleged scheme to defraud them out of welfare, Social Security and veterans’ benefit checks.
The victims range in age from 50 to 80, police said. In addition, four women, three of whom are believed to suffer from physical disabilities and mental illness, were also found at the home, thought it is not yet known whether they were being held captive.
Police Sgt. Steven Murdock said a neighbor called authorities Friday morning expressing concern about men in the house in the northern part of the city. Officers who responded found three men locked in a “prison room” in a garage and a fourth man in the home.
Officers broke down a door that had been nailed shut, and discovered what they described as a trash-filled scene of squalor. The men were suffering from malnourishment, living in a converted garage that contained no furniture, CNN affiliate KTRK reported. According to Murdock, the men were forced to sleep on the linoleum floor.
Police freed four men from a home in north Houston where they were held for years in a scheme to defraud them out of welfare and veterans benefit checks.
Eight people have been held captive at a north Houston house, with some perhaps dwelling in what’s described as a “prison room” and one man possibly kept against his will for a decade, police said.
Read more: NY Daily News
