Article content

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia woman who had a role in kidnapping, torturing and enslaving disabled adults discovered chained up in a basement was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in federal prison.

Philly.com reported that Jean McIntosh, 38, sat in the federal courtroom as several of the victims testified about the lasting effect of the abuse they had endured. Law enforcement officials said McIntosh helped prosecutors build a case against her mother, Linda Weston, the ringleader of the group that held victims captive for years in a cramped, Philadelphia basement in an effort to steal more than US$200,000 in government benefits.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or BASEMENT OF HORRORS: 40 years for ringleader's daughter in benefits scam where disabled captives were tortured, forced into prostitution Back to video

Weston previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison plus 80 years to avoid the death penalty. Her lawyers said the woman had suffered years of similar abuse when she was a child.

In all, five people were charged with 196 counts, after police rescued four people from the basement in October 2011. Details of the squalid conditions, physical abuse and forced prostitution shocked Philadelphia and the country as the full breadth of the allegations were released in charging documents.