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ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis County man has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking for forcing two women into prostitution, including a mentally disabled woman.

Federal prosecutors say 26-year-old Carl Mathews of Breckenridge Hills pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court and faces sentencing June 12. His sister, 27-year-old Carla Mathews, also of Breckenridge Hills, is awaiting trial on similar charges.

Mathews forced the women into sex in the St. Louis area from 2010 through October 2012. Authorities say the mentally disabled woman was forced to sleep and use the bathroom in a closet, and was supplied with little food. The woman was also beaten and set on fire.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A Missouri couple accused of keeping their severely autistic, 6-year-old son in a makeshift cage soiled with urine and feces was charged Friday with endangering the welfare of a child.

The charges come more than two years after an anonymous call to a state hotline sent authorities to the O'Fallon home of Victoria and Terry Smith. Their son and his siblings were removed from their parents care, but later returned, according to court documents.

St. Charles County prosecutor Tim Lohmar did not immediately respond to a message asking for information about the delay in filing charges and why the children were later returned to the home.

The Smiths, who have since moved to Elsberry, do not have a listed phone number or an attorney on record. Arrest warrants have been issued, and Lohmar said both are expected to turn themselves in.

Lohmar said authorities received the tip in December 2010, when the boy was 6. When police, paramedics and a case worker went to the home, the child's grandmother showed them to the basement, where the child was in a 3-foot-tall, 3-foot-wide and 6-foot-long crib covered with a plywood top and held together with bungee cords, tension straps and zip ties, he said.

The boy's parents were shopping at the time, and his grandmother was watching him and his five siblings, ages 11 months to 8 years.

The child was naked, sitting in urine and feces, Lohmar said. According to court documents, the siblings told police their brother was often kept in the cage and they fed him hot dogs and chicken nuggets through the bars.

"We certainly understand that any parent is going to have stressful times, especially parents with severely developmentally disabled children," Lohmar said. "But our view is that this was a completely inappropriate way to handle this particular situation."

When the Smiths came home, they told investigators that they fashioned the cage for the boy's protection - it was the only way to keep him from hurting himself when left alone, Lohmar said. They said they did their best to keep the cage clean and kept him naked so that he wouldn't accidentally hang himself with clothing.

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A body found in the Little River in eastern Tennessee has been identified as a Missouri man last heard from in February.

Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong said Friday that the cause of death for 29-year-old Lance Michael Larson O'Fallon, Mo., remains under investigation.

Berrong said investigators are searching for O'Fallon's tan 2003 Kia Spectra, 4-door, with a Missouri registration CF1S9R.

Larson traveled to Lynchburg, Va., in February from his home in O'Fallon, Mo. Berrong said his last known contact with family was around Feb. 20, when he told his parents he was headed back to Missouri. It is not known why Larson was in the Rockford area.

Larson's body was found in the Little River Thursday downstream from the Roddy Branch boat access area in Rockford.