In case it's not obvious: secret agencies don't recruit in suburban shopping malls, but psychos do. A Connecticut man is accused of recruiting black and Hispanic men for a fake secret agency, and then torturing them with needles, rope, strapping tape and vegetable oil.

Lawrence Bottone, 52, who used the name "Dr. Hunter" when he approached victims, is facing 29 criminal counts, including first-degree assault. Bottone told potential recruits he was part of an intelligence agency, and told them they could get international security jobs that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. But as part of the deal, they had to be trained to withstand interrogations—so Bottone allegedly took the "recruits," who were all young black and Hispanic men, to secluded places and tortured them.

The victims, who were sworn to secrecy, were bound to tables, blindfolded, stripped naked, and whipped—among other things, Bottone allegedly stuck pins under their fingernails. After one of the victims called authorities, cops found the "training kit" in Bottone's car, and have identified at least four victims so far. Bottone, a former teacher and coach in Norwalk, spent four years in prison in the 1990s for child pornography and assault (which also included torture). Botone faces up to 25 years in prison.