A North Philadelphia couple and two relatives were charged with luring a Pittsburgh woman to their apartment where they beat her and lit her on fire, then sent her home on a bus, prosecutors said.

"She met the couple on some sort of chat line. There was initially some romantic or sexual relationship between them," said Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

When police searched the apartment of Tamara and Michael Rhoades, they found a second woman, 21, who authorities said also had been beaten by the couple after meeting them on a chat line. She too was held against her will, police said.

"Now that the news has gotten out about this, more people might come forward," Jamerson said.

Philadelphia prosecutors filed charges of attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, arson, unlawful restraint, simple assault and reckless endangerment against Tamara Rhoades, 24; Michael Rhoades, 34; Steven Mills, 22; and a 14-year-old relative of the family in connection with the assault on the Pittsburgh woman, who is 20 and was not identified.

Their preliminary hearing, scheduled for Thursday, was continued until May 9. Each of the four was being held on $750,000 bail. Pierre LaTour III, a court-appointed lawyer for Tamara Rhoades, declined to comment.

Tamara and Michael Rhoades also were charged with beating and holding the second woman against her will, officials said.

Prosecutors said after the couple lured the Pittsburgh woman to North Philadelphia, she was held in the couple's apartment where she was assaulted. On Feb. 21, the couple and Mills poured flammable liquids on the woman and lit her on fire.

Although she was able to put out the flames, she was badly injured.

"She was mainly burned on the face," Jamerson said.

The three then took her to a bus station and put her on a bus back to Pittsburgh.

The woman, at the urging of her mother, reported the episode to police in Pittsburgh, who contacted Philadelphia police. They filed charges Feb. 23.

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