A Kirkwood, Mo., man charged in Kansas City with sex trafficking tried to hire a hit man to kill his purported victim and a federal prosecutor, authorities have alleged.
Bradley Cook, 32, allegedly hatched the scheme while he was incarcerated at a private jail for federal inmates in Leavenworth, according to a statement prosecutors filed Thursday evening with a federal appeals court in St. Louis.
In a written statement, U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips said her office took immediate steps to protect the victim and the prosecutor upon learning of the alleged threat.
“We consider it a serious matter whenever there are allegations of anyone making threats against crime victims or attorneys in our office,” Phillips said.
Cook’s lawyer, Carter Collins Law, responded in a court filing Friday afternoon, calling the new allegations “dramatic,” “incendiary” and “extraordinarily inflammatory.” Law criticized prosecutors for presenting them, without evidence, in an unsealed public filing.
“The government has never produced any evidentiary support for this allegation in any court,” Law wrote.
Cook and four others were charged in September in Kansas City with sexually abusing and torturing a young woman in Lebanon, Mo., then broadcasting the abuse online.
Cook and the others have pleaded not guilty. Defense lawyers in the case have said they plan to investigate whether the alleged victim consented to the treatment as part of a bondage and sadomasochistic lifestyle.
The allegations of attempted murder-for-hire came in response to an appeal that Cook had filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking that he be released on bond pending trial.
Prosecutors, who contended that Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Cordes was a target of the scheme, filed the allegations to explain why Cook had been moved from the detention facility in Leavenworth to a jail in Bates County, Mo.
Prosecutors alleged that Cook had attempted to give details about his alleged victim’s location and information about Cordes’ family, home, work hours and personal history to a “professional killer.” Cook also made plans to create an offshore account into which $20,000 would be wired to pay for the murders, the filing said.
“At the time of Cook’s conduct in custody, (Cordes) was the only government counsel prosecuting his case,” prosecutors wrote in the filing. “Based on Cook’s own statements in custody, he incorrectly believed that if he had murdered … Cordes that the case against him would be dismissed against him.”
The filing said that authorities became aware of the plan on Nov. 15. They moved the victim to protective custody and put unspecified “security measure into place” for Cordes.
The investigation continued until Dec. 9, when a “security issue” cut short the investigation “prematurely.”
At that point, the filing stated, Cook and his lawyers were notified of the investigation and “briefed extensively.”
Law, in her response, said she never was “briefed extensively.” She said she was told by the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas that the investigation did not move forward because “of a lack of substantial evidence.”
The appeals court filing did not explain how a security issue would derail an ongoing investigation. It also did not hint as to whether Cook would be charged with attempting to hire a hit man.
Phillips said in her statement that her office was considering the facts uncovered during the investigation and would make an “appropriate” decision about charges.