Cell swap

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Police located a 63-year-old deaf man, who was missing since May, in a Southwest Philly basement Sept. 2.

Dwayne Young, 56, of the 5500 block of Wheeler Street, had allegedly kept the resident of the 2000 block of Gerritt Street locked in his basement while he used the victim’s Access card and Social Security checks to purchase narcotics, Officer Tanya Little of the Police Public Affairs Unit said.

The checks were estimated at $600 a month, according to family members, Capt. Larry Nodiff of South Detective Division said, noting detectives were reviewing financial records with the Social Security Administration.

Young allegedly abducted the man on the 1800 block of Washington Avenue April 4 and transported him to his Southwest Philly home, Little said. Inside the dwelling, the phones were disconnected, the front door and windows were barred and his living quarters were located in the basement.

The lower level seemed to be clean and included a bed, chair and medical commode, Nodiff said. A boarded window obstructed the view inside and out.

Police received information that the victim was inside, so authorities received a search warrant for the location and after knocking with no answer, forcibly entered the dwelling, Nodiff said. The victim was located in the cellar and transported to South Detectives, 2301 S. 24th St., where an interpreter assisted detectives, who asked the victim if he was in any pain.

“The response was his stomach hurt due to the fact he was so hungry,” he said. “The detectives went out, purchased dinner for him and beverages.”

Young was arrested Sept. 3 after showing up to South Detectives with a copy of the search warrant in hand, Nodiff said.

He was charged with kidnapping for ransom, false imprisonment, forgery, theft, theft by deception, theft by extortion and related charges, according to court records. The following day a judge set his bail at $1 million. He will return to court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.

In the 17th District, he has been arrested for a 1979 burglary, for which he was convicted, and a 2008 sexual assault for which he was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, according to court records, but Nodiff did not know if he had a tie to the area.

“Apparently [Young], through his common-law wife, he knew the victim, according to the [victim’s] family,” Nodiff said “They’re not relatives.”

Young’s wife had passed away in March, so investigators rechecked her cause of death.

“I wanted to make sure there was no foul play,” Nodiff said noting the Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed she died of natural causes. “It just seems coincidental that she passed away and that’s around the time the victim was abducted.”

South Detectives is reviewing that case to determine if any criminal abuse of the Social Security system took place, Nodiff said.

Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.

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