NYC couple accused of kidnapping disabled woman
Mar 28, 2012, 1:32 PM
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York City couple is accused of kidnapping a partially paralyzed woman and controlling her finances for more than a year.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Tuesday that the 58-year-old victim was found in a locked room that could only be opened from the outside. He says she was malnourished and bleeding from the head.
Brown says police found her after the woman’s niece called 911 after being unable to contact her aunt for several months.
She was taken to a hospital with broken ribs, a broken arm and dislocated shoulder.
Patrick Donovan and Mae Washington, of Queens, pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping, assault and unlawful imprisonment. The victim had been renting a room at the couple’s home.
Brown said the victim turned over all her income from Social Security and other sources to Washington because she feared the couple.
He said the victim was held against her will since January 2011.
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