KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The wife of a Missouri man who tortured a young woman he held captive as a sex slave for six years was sentenced Thursday in federal court along with two other men who participated in the abuse.
Marilyn Bagley, 48, of the south-central town Lebanon, was sentenced to five years of probation. James Noel, 47, of Springfield and Michael Stokes, 65, of Lebanon both received five-year prison sentences.
Bagley admitted at her December plea hearing that she and her husband, Edward Bagley, invited the victim to live with them after hearing of her troubled life. Marilyn Bagley acknowledged that she coached the victim on how to behave as her husband's sex slave and watched over the years as he subjected her to electrical shocks and near suffocation.
"She taught me how to get through it, but she never helped me," the victim testified.
Noel and Stokes both previously admitted to bringing steaks, cigarettes, clothing, cash and other gifts when they came to Bagley's trailer. Noel also acknowledged that he flogged and shocked the young woman.
"He wanted to watch the tears run down my face," the victim, who's now 27, testified. "He got more aroused as I cried."
Stokes previously acknowledged he was stunned that Edward Bagley "had that much control over someone." Stokes also confessed that he tortured the victim.
At Thursday's hearing, Stokes pleaded for mercy, saying he wanted to return to his family.
"I'm an old man who made a poor choice," he said. "I was misled by Mr. Bagley."
Edward Bagley and two other men - Bradley Cook and Dennis Henry - were sentenced Wednesday for their roles. Bagley, 46, and Cook, 34, of the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood both received 20 years in prison. Henry, 53, former postmaster in Nevada, Mo., was ordered to serve a 10-year prison term.