Blake Hall
A sad and very disturbing story has finally come to an end, and thankfully, its culmination is a positive one.
An 86-year-old United States Marine Corps veteran was rescued by police at a motel in Orange County, New York on Tuesday.
The former military member, David McClellan, had been held hostage for four years — held captive at the lodge in a room “full of smashed flower pots and stacked furniture” by a 35-year-old man who lived in the room next door. A man named Perry Coniglio.
The suspect of the terrible crime stole McClellan’s social security, pension checks and even food stamps. He beat him and reportedly didn’t care for his well-being or hygiene whatsoever — he neither bathed or clothed him. According to neighbors, he only gave him one bowl of cereal a day and let him walk around the premises naked.
This from Task & Purpose:
“We believe [McClellan] is the recipient of a tremendous amount of money on a monthly basis,” Chief Jack Quinn of the Highland Police Department told ABC 7 News.
Because McClellan has an advanced form of dementia, he thought he had only been hostage a few days, not years. After being checked out at a hospital, New York adult services will provide him with a new, safe home.
According to the local news station, Coniglio was arraigned and is being held at an upstate New York jail on $15,000 cash bail or $25,000 bond. He’s been charged with unlawful imprisonment, grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon, endangering an incompetent person, menacing and unlawful possession of marijuana.