Cyber 'Slave' Driver

By KATI CORNELL SMITH and JEREMY OLSHAN

May 13, 2005 -- A Queens man accused of keeping sex slaves and committing horrific acts of torture on women that he photographed and posted on his ultra-violent S&M Web site was nabbed for federal civil rights

Glenn Marcus, 52, made money off a demented pay-per-view site that featured graphic photos of victims he'd lure into master-slave relationships and then hold captive — subjecting them to torture and mutilation in his Kew Gardens apartment and other residences, according to authorities.

Adding insult to injury, Marcus allegedly ordered one victim to create his Web site, while a second woman was forced to maintain the site that featured photos of her beaten, cut with knives, needles and pins, hung from the ceiling and choked in a plastic bag.

An FBI arrest warrant details a disturbing chain of events centered on these two women from 1997 to 2001, but Marcus' torture of other victims is suspected to have continued through the present day, law enforcement sources said.

Pale and sporting shaggy unkempt hair and shorts, Marcus was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court yesterday, where a judge ordered him held without bail on forced-labor charges involving aggravated sexual abuse — a charge that carries a possible life sentence.

"These are very serious crimes that suggest a danger to the community here," Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann said.

Marcus, who works as a comic book distributor, responded to the allegations in the courthouse hallway, saying, "I never involved myself in anything that was not consensual."

In a search of his apartment on 138th Street yesterday morning, the feds seized whips, leather handcuffs, speculums and various sex toys, as well as Polaroid photos that have been posted on his Web site, sources said.

Court papers filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Wenner describe one woman's ordeal in disturbing detail from when she met Marcus in 1998 and entered into a voluntary sadomasochistic relationship until she escaped his clutches in 2001.

The torture began after the woman agreed to move to a house in Maryland, where another of Marcus' "slaves" was living.

"Immediately upon her arrival, [the victim] was kept naked and blindfolded and . . . Marcus withheld food and water from her," the arrest warrant states.

In addition to torturing her, Marcus allegedly forced her to work on his Web site for up to 10 hours per day — often just repeatedly "clicking" on the site so he could get more money.

In one gruesome act, Marcus allegedly chained her, covered her head and photographed her as he pinned a Wiffle Ball inside of her mouth and whipped her.

In other instances, he allegedly sliced her body with a knife, put her in a plastic bag and choked her, hung her from her wrists and ankles from the ceiling of a basement, and padlocked her genitalia with pins.