Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro indicted on new charges, now faces 977 counts
Ariel Castro, 52, appears in court May 9, 2013, to faces charges that he kidnapped and raped three young women and held them in his Cleveland home for a decade. He did not enter a plea and stood with his head bowed while the court set bail at $8 million.
The charges keep mounting against Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro, who now faces 977 counts in the lurid case.
A grand jury issued a new indictment on Friday against Castro, the former bus driver accused of kidnapping three women and holding them captive in his house for decades as he raped and beat them.
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It adds 648 counts to the 329 counts Castro originally faced.
The new charges are related to the final years that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight spent in Castro's house of horrors, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The previous indictment covered only the first four and a half years of their captivity.
More from GlobalPost: Ariel Castro beat wife, threatened neighbors: police records say
The new counts include 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault, three counts of child endangerment and one count of possessing criminal tools.
Castro is set to be arraigned on the new counts on July 17.
The three women, as well as Berry's 6-year-old daughter with Castro, were freed from the house in May after Berry shouted for help from the front door when Castro was away.
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