ST. LOUIS _ Fitness company mogul Todd Beckman was in custody Friday on a federal kidnapping charge alleging that he and others held a man against his will, beat him and shocked him with a Taser over three days.
"It's one of the nastiest kidnappings I've ever seen," U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said Friday.
Court documents said they released the victim Nov. 23 after collecting a $27,000 ransom from his parents, and that during some of their calls to his mother in Florida she could hear him screaming in the background.
The woman told authorities she heard Beckman saying that if she did not pay, "She would never see her son come Thanksgiving."
Neither the documents nor authorities provided an explanation for why the man, a resident of Maplewood, was targeted.
Beckman is the president and CEO of BAM Brands, which owns Tanco, Xist Fitness, Massage Luxe and "age management company" LifeXist, according to the BAM website.
He and three others were arrested Thursday and appeared Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on a single kidnapping charge.
In charging documents, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Brent Nanney wrote that the victim was beaten and choked in his home Nov. 21 by two of the defendants _ brothers Blake and Caleb Laubinger _ until they gained control and secured him with zip ties.
They threatened to kill him, then took him to the basement of Blake Laubinger's home in Pacific, where he was beaten, kicked and shocked by the brothers, Nanney wrote. The men allegedly accused him of stealing money from Blake Laubinger.
Beckman, defendant Kerry Roades, and another man also beat the victim, Nanney wrote. The fifth man, who has not been charged, may have recorded some of the ordeal.
Nanney wrote that Beckman pistol-whipped the victim and pressed a gun to his head, pulling the trigger on an empty chamber. Roades is accused of striking the man in the head "numerous" times.
Later, the victim was held overnight in a shipping container, officials said.
On Nov. 23, Blake Laubinger demanded that the man sign a document, Nanney wrote. Blake Laubinger and Beckman then drove him to the Gravois Bluffs area in a St. Louis Tan Co. cargo van and released him, the agent noted.
Nanney wrote that the victim identified pictures of the Laubingers and Beckman.
The man told investigators the captors used a plastic sheet to catch his urine and that he believes it was burned in a fire pit. The agent wrote that the man deliberately urinated on the floor and baseboard too "in an effort to leave evidence behind."
After Beckman's arrest Thursday, he acknowledged being at the home in Pacific with Roades and a "restrained" man in the basement, Nanney wrote.
Reached by phone, Travis Noble, Beckman's lawyer, said, "It is out of Mr. Beckman's character _ such a crime."
"It's hard to believe that's somebody as successful in business as he is ... would be involved in something like this," Noble said. He stressed that he has not seen any evidence or reports, and the charges are based on "this guy's statement."
Blake Laubinger, 24, was arrested by St. Louis County police. On Facebook, he lists himself as an investor with Xist Fitness. Caleb Laubinger lists himself as a firefighter, cellphone sales representative and landscape company owner.
Reached by phone, his lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, said, "I haven't had an opportunity to look at any of the evidence." He added, "Blake is going to appear in court and enter a plea of not guilty."
Laubinger's brother, Caleb, is represented by Patrick Kilgore, who did not respond to a message seeking comment.
No lawyer was yet listed for Roades.
Prosecutors are seeking to have all of the men held in jail until trial. They are next scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment; Maplewood Police Chief Stephen Kruse referred questions to the U.S. attorney's office.
In his biography on the Tanco website, Beckman said that he started his empire with the purchase of a hair salon, in 1984, when he was just 18. Two years later, he added tanning equipment. In 1994, he founded The TAN Company, which grew to 50 locations in seven states, the bio says.
The website now lists 18 locations in Missouri and Illinois.
In February, Beckman announced that Xist had sold some locations to Planet Fitness for an undisclosed amount.
