10 Young People Found In 'House Of Horrors' Case

PHILADELPHIA - More victims have been found in connection with that "house of horrors" case.

Police now say six children and four young adults, ranging in age from 2 to 19, are in protective custody, FOX 29's Steve Keeley reported live Wednesday morning from police headquarters.

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"It's a very complicated case. It continues to unfold. This is another major step," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Tuesday night. "At least we were able to locate several children that we were concerned about. That's the good news. Bad news is some of them were not treated very well. In fact, one has some pretty serious injuries that are visible, that you can see. There has to be a medical evaluation … to make sure that there's nothing that needs immediate medical attention right now."

"But this is a very sad, sad story," Ramsey added. "And it just makes absolutely no sense. When you look at some of these kids, you know the psychological trauma of what they've gone through is pretty apparent. And we've got to do all we can to get them back on track."

FOX 29 cameras were rolling Tuesday as six children were removed from a Northeast Philadelphia home and taken into protective custody.

The 10 young people all have ties to the case. Two of the children were born to Tamara Breeden, who is one of the four victims found locked inside the basement of an apartment building in Tacony.

Breeden was a missing woman from Philadelphia whose case, sources say, was marked "closed" last year despite not being found until now.

Police also found the niece of alleged ringleader Linda Ann Weston inside a home in Frankford. She had been reported missing since 2009.

"She is 19 years old. She appears to be severely malnourished. She looks like she's been beaten a large part of her life," Ramsey said.

Three of the children were taken from the same Longshore Avenue apartment building in Tacony where the four developmentally-disabled adults from a sub-basement "dungeon."

Weston had a daughter and son living in the building. The daughter and two children, believed to be hers, were taken into custody.

Police aren't even sure yet whether the daughter is a victim or a perpetrator at this point.

Walking into work Wednesday morning, Ramsey said, "When I left last night, that decision had not been made. But we hade DAs present at the time. So, they will determine whether or not there's anything that she could be charged with, or she's just a victim herself."

Police did not divulge exactly where the other young people were found, including whether they were at one or more houses. They also were not commenting on what the conditions were like.

They're all now being cared for by the city's Department of Human Services.

Who are the fathers? Who are the families? Police have no idea. They're doing DNA testing with the 10 kids right now.

The thought from one officer was that you could have had the men charged in the case raping the women and fathering kids over several years – they just don't know yet, Keeley reported.

Police also did not indicate how they learned of the additional 10 kids.

Investigators have said they there could be as many as 50 additional victims in this case, as Weston had their court papers, identification and other documents in her possession.

A special task force has been created to follow-up on numerous leads that are coming in from across the country.

Philadelphia police seized a Ford expedition with a Florida license plate found Tuesday in the city. Investigators believe this is the vehicle Weston allegedly used to haul the adults victims across the country from Texas to Florida, and then here to Philadelphia.

Records also indicate that Weston spent time in Virginia and North Carolina.

One woman who knows Weston spoke to FOX29. She asked to have her identity concealed.

The woman said, "I remember vividly asking her, 'Who are these people?' And she would get out in a nurse's uniform and say, 'These are my clients.'"

Police allege that all of this is part of a Social Security check-cashing scheme in which the suspects, including Weston, who is a convicted felon, can aquire checks for other people with no identification and cash them for years and years.

Asked if the case highlights flaws in the system, Ramsey said, "Well, yeah, I mean obviously I think it shouldn't have been allowed to happen. She used her own name in many instances."

Ramsey added, "Again, everybody's going to review their own procedures to see whether or not there can be some improvements. But with Social Security, I mean, the sheer volume of cases that they have to deal with has to be enormous. And that's got to be taken into consideration. Bottomline is that I think everybody needs to review their procedures."