US man gets 20 years in sex slave case
Bill Draper, AP September 12, 2013, 8:14 am
Edward Bagley. Photo: Supplied
A man has been sentenced to 20 years in a US prison for holding a young woman captive as a sex slave for six years.
Edward Bagley initially faced 11 federal charges accusing him of enticing an underage girl to be his sex slave, torturing and mutilating her, and allowing others to watch and participate in the torture sessions. In January, he pleaded guilty to one count of using an interstate facility to entice a minor into illegal sexual conduct.
Bagley agreed to the 20-year prison sentence as part of his plea arrangement - a deal his victim says will spare her from having to relive her ordeal in public.
"Even though Ed pleaded guilty, he still hasn't told the truth," the woman said in court, reading from a statement.
Prosecutors said Bagley, 46, and his wife, Marilyn, recruited the woman to live with them in their trailer in Lebanon, Missouri in late 2002 and groomed her to become Bagley's sex slave. The Bagleys have insisted he didn't have sex with her until she turned 18 and that the often-extreme sex acts were consensual, but prosecutors believe it started years before that and was forced on the woman.
The victim described how the Bagleys initially showed her images and videos of people practising bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism - or BDSM - and told her it was fun. She signed a contract on her 18th birthday that Bagley said made her his sex slave for life.
As part of his sentence, Bagley also agreed to pay about $US123,000 ($A132,808) towards future counselling and medical care for the woman, who's now 27.
The case came to light in early 2009 when the woman, then 23, was hospitalised after what prosecutors said was a torture session. Then-US Attorney Beth Phillips called the case one of "the most horrific ever prosecuted in this district."
