1 of 5 charged in Mo. sex slave case pleads guilty

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A southwest Missouri man has admitted that he paid money to torture a young woman who was being held as a sex slave in a rural trailer.

Forty-five-year-old James Noel pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Four other men are facing federal charges in the case.

The woman, now 25, who claims she was tortured over several years at a Lebanon, Mo., trailer home.

As part of the plea, Noel agreed to cooperate with the government and testify in court.

Noel admitted that he shocked the woman using an electrical device, even though she had complained that it was painful.

Noel's attorney and federal prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing.