Texas officers find dozens of people held captive in homes
IRVING, Texas — Dozens of people were found being held against their will in what their captives told authorities were drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, police said Thursday.
The treatment of captives, who were Hispanic and spoke little or no English, was “medieval and barbaric,” Fort Worth police said in a statement. Victims were often beaten, tied to chairs and fed one package of noodles a day, the statement said. Beds were made of wooden two-by-fours, it said.
Nine men have been charged with aggravated kidnapping in the case, though the investigation is in its very early stages, Officer James McLellan of the police department in suburban Irving said.
Investigators still have not determined the real intentions of the operators of the homes or whether they were being paid for the ostensible treatment, he said.