Story Archive

Didn’t Think to Look There

A gang kidnaped a man in Edmonton, Alta., Canada, years ago, beating him and accusing him of stealing two pounds of marijuana. The gang’s leader shot the man’s dog to death, and threatened to do the same to him, but they finally dropped him off at a hospital for treatment for his severe injuries. Most of the gang was rounded up by police, but they never got the “mid-level” drug dealer who led them: Benjamin Louis Young, who was 33 at the time, was on Canada’s Most Wanted list for years. Police found that Young has been hiding the entire time in the basement of his house, and just never bothered to look there, even though the gang held the victim there overnight. When they finally checked there, they found and arrested him. “He quite literally lived in the basement of the home for 17 years,” his lawyer says. His wife worked to support the family, and Young was a stay-at-home dad. Young, now 52, has to face the charges filed against him 17 years ago. “I knew someday I’d have to give my pound of flesh,” he said. (RC/Edmonton Journal) ...If only he had pulled the blankets up in his bed over his face, the cops probably still wouldn’t have found him.