Ariel Castro pleads not guilty in Ohio kidnap case

CLEVELAND (AP) — A man accused of holding three women captive in his Cleveland home for about a decade pleaded not guilty today to hundreds of charges, including rape and kidnapping.

Ariel Castro is charged with kidnapping the three women and keeping them — sometimes restrained in chains — along with a 6-year-old girl he fathered with one of them.

Castro, 52, didn't speak during the arraignment, which lasted less than a minute. He stood motionless, dressed in an orange prison outfit, and looked toward the floor as the plea was entered.

His attorneys planned to make a statement later today.

The grand jury charged Castro with two counts of aggravated murder related to one act, saying he purposely caused the unlawful termination of one of the women's pregnancies. He also was indicted on 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of felonious assault and one count of possession of criminal tools.