Deputies Find Last of 6 Abducted Boarders

A 58-year-old woman, kidnapped along with five other people from their boarding homes this week, apparently was beaten when she refused to turn over documents that would have allowed her abductors to obtain her government assistance checks, police said Friday.

Sheriff’s deputies found Josephine Johnson wandering the streets Thursday evening--two days after she was abducted by so-called boarding home pirates. Badly bruised, she was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, where she is expected to recover from her injuries. The other five victims were found unharmed Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday, police were still seeking the last of five suspects who allegedly raided two boarding homes, seized the residents and locked them in a boarding home of their own in an effort to gain control of their government benefits.

Detectives were interviewing Johnson on Friday evening to gather details, but Los Angeles Police Lt. Jimmy Grayson said authorities believe she was assaulted and “kicked free” by her assailants when she would not cooperate.

“When she refused or was hesitant to comply, they used physical force,” Grayson said.

Oliver Sampson, who has been speaking on behalf of the owners of the boarding home where Johnson was abducted, said Johnson had lived there for some time.

“She’s a very quiet person,” Sampson said. “She doesn’t trust many people. She doesn’t talk to many people.”

Authorities on Friday were preparing kidnapping and robbery charges against the suspects in custody. Additional charges of assault and battery may be filed against some of them, Grayson said.

According to investigators--who say they have learned much in recent days about this little-known dark side of the boarding home business--at least two of the suspects operated a competing boarding home. The other suspects, police said, were hired to kidnap “clients” from other homes.

After they arrive at their assailants’ homes, the victims, many of whom are physically or mentally impaired, are ordered to turn over their Social Security cards and other records. Armed with these documents, police say, the abductors telephone government agencies and inform them that the “client” needs to receive their benefits at a new address.

During the course of this week’s investigation, police have heard other accounts of brutality inflicted upon victims, who often do not know where to turn for help.

“We’ve heard about broken jaws, broken limbs,” Grayson said. “One of the real lax things I see is that they shouldn’t be able to change their home address over the phone with Social Security. There should be somewhere where they would have to go in person.”