Court: judge didn’t know he sent ‘dungeon’ victim to live with murderer in 2002

    As we’ve learned, Linda Ann Weston wasn’t unfamiliar with the court system before her arrest two weeks ago in Tacony. The alleged ring leader in a scam that involved locking people up to collect their Social Security payments, Weston previously spent four years in prison for the death of her sister’s boyfriend.

    After that, in 2002, Philadelphia Family Court Judge Kevin Dougherty granted Weston custody of her niece, who has since been found emaciated and abused in a home in Frankford.

    The Daily News reports today Dougherty says DHS never made him aware of Weston’s murder conviction when he was deciding where to send Weston’s niece, Beatrice, to live.

    Beatrice, with consent from her mother, wound up with Linda Ann Weston. The city says it’s launched a full investigation and will pass along a report to Mayor Michael Nutter.

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