Teh One Who Knocks
08-20-2013, 10:54 AM
By Ryan Gorman - The Daily Mail
http://i.imgur.com/69INy5w.jpg
A Philadelphia woman is accused of tying her disabled cousin to a urine-soaked bed in a scheme to steal her assistance checks.
Regina Bennett, 46, was first arrested early Saturday morning after an altercation with her neighbour. Cops doing a walk-through of her home found a malnourished, disabled woman bound by her arms and legs with rags to a urine-soaked bed wearing only a diaper. As the handicapped woman’s caregiver, Bennett had control over her cousin’s finances and received her social security checks, according to reports.
Instead of public assistance, Bennett was handed on Sunday a litany of charges ranging from assault, to making terroristic threats, kidnapping, public drunkenness and false imprisonment.
Police were called just before midnight Friday night after Bennett allegedly got into a drunken brawl with a neighbor, according to WPVI. They were told by neighbors there may be a small child inside.
‘She started snapping on neighbors, using profanity and names,’ Richard Master told Fox 29.
Cops searching the house of horrors said they instead found a 36-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, severe malnutrition, bed sores and other signs of abuse being kept prisoner in squalid conditions wearing only a diaper, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Officers untied the allegedly tortured woman and sent her to a local hospital.
‘She looked like she was distraught, maybe, out of it – I guess because there was a lot of ambulances and police around her,’ a neighbor told Fox 29.
Bennett was appointed caretaker of her cousin in 2009, according to NBC Philadelphia. Her role saw her overseeing the woman's finances.
A relative of Bennett’s defended her, saying she never saw any evidence of abuse.
‘She took care of her like she was her own flesh and blood child. Her room was neat and clean, she went to her programs and fed her - that's all I know,’ the woman identified only as Phyllis told local media.
Neighbors said they barely knew Bennett.
‘It was scary, it was weird, I couldn’t believe it,’ Keisha Gonzalez told Fox 29, adding ‘you never know who you live next door to.’
Master told WPVI that he saw ‘the para-transit van drop her off but that was it.’
Bennett is currently in custody, her victim has not been publicly identified. There was also no word on who would be the disabled woman's caretaker in Bennett's absence.
http://i.imgur.com/69INy5w.jpg
A Philadelphia woman is accused of tying her disabled cousin to a urine-soaked bed in a scheme to steal her assistance checks.
Regina Bennett, 46, was first arrested early Saturday morning after an altercation with her neighbour. Cops doing a walk-through of her home found a malnourished, disabled woman bound by her arms and legs with rags to a urine-soaked bed wearing only a diaper. As the handicapped woman’s caregiver, Bennett had control over her cousin’s finances and received her social security checks, according to reports.
Instead of public assistance, Bennett was handed on Sunday a litany of charges ranging from assault, to making terroristic threats, kidnapping, public drunkenness and false imprisonment.
Police were called just before midnight Friday night after Bennett allegedly got into a drunken brawl with a neighbor, according to WPVI. They were told by neighbors there may be a small child inside.
‘She started snapping on neighbors, using profanity and names,’ Richard Master told Fox 29.
Cops searching the house of horrors said they instead found a 36-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, severe malnutrition, bed sores and other signs of abuse being kept prisoner in squalid conditions wearing only a diaper, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Officers untied the allegedly tortured woman and sent her to a local hospital.
‘She looked like she was distraught, maybe, out of it – I guess because there was a lot of ambulances and police around her,’ a neighbor told Fox 29.
Bennett was appointed caretaker of her cousin in 2009, according to NBC Philadelphia. Her role saw her overseeing the woman's finances.
A relative of Bennett’s defended her, saying she never saw any evidence of abuse.
‘She took care of her like she was her own flesh and blood child. Her room was neat and clean, she went to her programs and fed her - that's all I know,’ the woman identified only as Phyllis told local media.
Neighbors said they barely knew Bennett.
‘It was scary, it was weird, I couldn’t believe it,’ Keisha Gonzalez told Fox 29, adding ‘you never know who you live next door to.’
Master told WPVI that he saw ‘the para-transit van drop her off but that was it.’
Bennett is currently in custody, her victim has not been publicly identified. There was also no word on who would be the disabled woman's caretaker in Bennett's absence.