KANSAS CITY, Mo. from www.courthousenews.com – – A St. Louis-area man indicted in “one of the most violent and horrific cases that the U.S. attorney’s office has ever seen” will remain in jail until trial.

Bradley Cook, 32, of Kirkwood, is one of five men accused of sexually torturing a mentally disabled woman or watching online as others tortured her.

FBI agent Samuel Benson testified during a 2-hour hearing that Cook abused other women, including his live-in girlfriend. Benson said that Cook liked to use an old-style hand-cranked phone to shock the victim while she was held down by another man.

Benson said the victim tried to use a safe word to stop the abuse, but Cook laughed and cranked harder.

Cook pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; use of an interstate facility to facilitate an unlawful activity; and possession of a firearm.

His lawyers claim the acts were consensual and that prosecutors are trying to criminalize an unusual, but acceptable and legal lifestyle.

Prosecutors painted a different picture. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Cordes told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch it was “one of the most violent and horrific cases that the U.S. attorney’s office has ever seen.”

Cordes had previously argued that “the evidence in this case indicates that the defendant’s sexually deviant behavior is compulsive and/or addictive, and that he cannot go long periods of time without engaging in the torture of a victim.”

Edward “Master Ed” Bagley, 43, of Lebanon, Mo., allegedly held the woman, known as “FV,” for 5 years. Bagley, Cook and three others were indicted on Sept. 7 on charges that could carry a penalty of life in prison.

Prosecutors claim Bagley marked “FV” with a bar code on her neck, a tribal tattoo with an “S” for slavery on her back and the Chinese symbol for slave on her ankle.

Court papers state Bagley also: pierced and sewed “FV’s” vaginal opening and breasts with metal piercings and needles; whipped her body, breasts, genitalia and anus with paddles, canes and floggers; tied her up naked, suspended her in the air and stretched her limbs in opposite directions; shocked her with electrical devices; waterboarded her; gave her abortions with crude devices; and tortured her in other ways that are too repellent to be quoted, even from a legal document.

Prosecutors say the torture escalated over time and included live Web shows.

Bagley allegedly threatened to kill FV and demonstrated his force by shooting animals she cared for in front of her. The torture stopped on Feb. 27, 2009 when Bagley was forced to seek emergency medical attention for FV after she suffered a cardiac arrest during the torture, court papers state.

A victim’s rights organization, the Kansas City Alliance Against Human Trafficking, has set up a fund to help the woman.

KANSAS CITY – from www.stltoday.com – • A Kirkwood man who is one of five men accused of either sexually torturing a mentally disabled woman or watching online as others tortured her has sexually tortured three other women, an FBI agent said Tuesday.

The new allegations were lodged during a hearing Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Kansas City. The allegations were key in the prosecutors’ successful argument that Bradley Cook, 32, of the 11500 block of Big Bend Boulevard, be held in jail until trial.

During a nearly two-hour hearing, prosecutors and defense lawyers painted two starkly different pictures of Cook. FBI special agent Samuel Benson said that Cook was very violent and that Cook’s live-in girlfriend was among his victims. But defense lawyers signaled during and after the hearing their stance that sexual contact with Cook — who pleaded not guilty Tuesday — was consensual and that prosecutors were trying to criminalize an unusual but acceptable and legal lifestyle.

Benson referred in court to photos found on Cook’s computer, one of which showed a woman tied to a table and another that showed Cook slapping a woman.

Benson also said that Cook delighted in using an old-style hand-cranked phone to electrically shock various body parts of a mentally disabled woman while she was allegedly being held by another man indicted along with Cook.

“That was the thing he liked to do every time he came over,” the victim — referred to in court documents as F.V., for female victim — said of Cook, according to Benson’s testimony.

Benson said the victim told investigators she tried to use a ‘safe word” to stop the abuse, “and Mr. Cook laughed at her and continued to crank even harder.”

While prosecutors additionally described Cook as a cocaine and marijuana user, his defense lawyer said he came from a good family with whom he was in constant contact, that he had ties to his community and that he and his relationships had been mischaracterized.

Cook’s attorney, Carter Collins Law, said the case “hinges” on whether the activities Cook is accused of were consensual.

Law said Cook “is interested in clearing his name” and that he understands the only way to do that is through the court process.

Cook, wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles, his brown hair cropped short, was attentive during the hearing. A court employee later told a reporter that she saw Cook sob when his attorney talked about his family.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia L. Cordes described Cook as anything but feeling. “The defendant has a long history of sexually violent behavior,” she said, adding later: “This is one of the most violent and horrific cases that the U.S. attorney’s office has ever seen.”

Cordes already had argued in court documents filed before the hearing that, “The evidence in this case indicates that the defendant’s sexually deviant behavior is compulsive and/or addictive, and that he cannot go long periods of time without engaging in the torture of a victim.”

Cook and four others, including the man who allegedly held F.V. for five years, Edward “Master Ed” Bagley, 43, of Lebanon, Mo., were indicted Sept. 7 on various charges, including sex trafficking, conspiracy and racketeering charges that could carry a penalty of life in prison.

Prosecutors say Bagley tattooed the woman to mark her as his slave, convinced her that she was legally “bound” and forced her to work as a stripper. He also “beat, whipped, flogged, suffocated, choked, electrocuted, caned, skewered, drowned, mutilated, hung and caged” the woman, prosecutors said.

Cordes argued in a court filing that Cook watched Bagley torture the woman and visited the pair “numerous” times to torture and rape her himself, despite her pleas to stop.

Cook also brought a video of someone being buried alive to teach Bagley how to do it to F.V., Cordes said.

Benson said Cook tried to block investigators from talking to his girlfriend.

During a search of Cook’s house, investigators found guns, drugs and videos and pictures of the sexual torture of at least 50 different women, Cordes said.

On Tuesday, Cordes argued that Cook was involved in the torture of three other women and discussed photos of the four women in court. The pictures were not shown or made public. Prosecutors said the photos depict the torture of F.V., the broken nose, black eyes, cuts and bruises, and waterboarding of Cook’s girlfriend, and activities involving other women yet to be interviewed.

But Law, Cook’s lawyer, argued that the conduct depicted in the pictures involved consenting adults.

Indeed, prosecutors may find themselves confronted with similar arguments from other defendants.

Court documents say Bagley and another defendant took F.V. to California for photo and video sessions. In one session, F.V. sobbed as Bagley whipped her. But in a brief interview at the end of the video, she said that she enjoyed the session and hoped to return.

But prosecutors say that Bagley, who was unemployed and made a living off the proceeds of selling F.V., held her against her will. He maintained control with threats to kill her, told her that he’d already dug her grave behind her house and shot cats and dogs that she befriended, saying he could do the same to her, they said. He performed abortions on her and caged her without food or water for extended periods of time, they say.

F.V. escaped after he caused a heart attack while suffocating and electrically shocking her on Feb. 27, 2009, and she was taken to the hospital, prosecutors said. She is said to be well cared for now. A victims rights organization, the Kansas City Alliance Against Human Trafficking, has set up a fund to help her.

Bradley Cook’s neighbors say they don’t know much about him. They know he parks cars in his driveway that he sells, that he has dogs, and that a girlfriend had been living in the simple one-story home on Big Bend with him. A young woman answered the door Tuesday morning but shooed away a reporter.

“The neighborhood really didn’t know what was going on,” said Susie Patton, who saw FBI agents swarm the neighborhood when Cook was arrested earlier this month. “It’s just a spooky house.”

Kirkwood police are familiar with the address. Dispatch reports indicate two trips to the home due to calls alleging domestic abuse by Cook. Police have also been to the house because of a loud party and to serve arrest warrants on traffic- and ordinance-related matters.

Cook has lived there since at least 2007.

State records indicate he has dabbled in real estate and marketing. An area man who knew Cook through business dealings said he thought Cook had a keen mind. “He was just incredibly gifted,” said the man, who asked that his name not be used. “But he would do what a lot of people do: Sabotage their own success.”

The man said he was “horrified” to learn of the charges against Cook.

Cook’s father, George Cook of St. Louis County, said he did not want to comment on his son’s case — except for the allegations regarding Cook’s girlfriend.

“I do know without any reservations that any accusation that he’s abusing his girlfriend in some way is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “That’s absolutely not true.”