A suspended UW-Madison student accused of sexual assault, stalking or harassment of 10 women was released from the Dane County Jail on Friday after his bail was cut in half at a hearing earlier in the day.

Alec Cook, 20, of Edina, Minn., was released after his parents posted $100,000 bail, which was set at a hearing Friday morning before Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn.

After the hearing, Cook’s lawyers, Chris Van Wagner and Jessa Nicholson, criticized an amended criminal complaint that was filed Thursday against Cook, which they said unfairly gives the impression that Cook’s bad behavior was escalating, and adds new charges against Cook that are nothing like those that prosecutors said in October that they expected to add.

“We took them at their word,” Van Wagner said, explaining why he and Nicholson didn’t initially challenge the original $200,000 bail that has kept Cook in jail since October. “Their word has been shown to be almost completely untrue.”

He said that by adding the charges it appears that prosecutors “took the dare” presented in Cook’s bail motion filed last week, which pointed out that no new charges had been added since October.

“What did they give you? Disorderly conduct? These aren’t the charges they threatened,” Van Wagner said. “They fed the media frenzy and the social media firestorm with the specter of horribly many more cases coming in. It didn’t happen.”

Assistant Attorney General Michelle Viste, who argued the state’s case at the bail hearing, declined to comment after the hearing.

Cook initially faced sexual assault, false imprisonment and other charges related to a single incident on Oct. 13 at Cook’s apartment. More charges related to other women were added in late October, when Cook was charged with 11 counts of sexual assault related to five women.

On Thursday, prosecutors filed an amended criminal complaint that added two counts of stalking, three counts of disorderly conduct and one count of fourth-degree sexual assault, related to five other women.

In court Friday, Nicholson said the comparison of Cook’s case to others supported reducing his bail to a signature bond. She argued that despite the number charges against him, he was not at risk of failing to appear in court. She said he would live with his parents in Minnesota.

Viste, citing the amended criminal complaint, said that Cook’s behavior had escalated over time, from an alleged sexual assault in March 2015, leading to instances of harassment and stalking of women before other incidents of sexual assault more recently.

“This is not under any circumstance what anyone might call date rape,” Viste said. “These are serious offenses committed by a serial rapist.”

Viste said that the potential total penalty of more than 343 years of combined prison and extended supervision makes Cook a risk not to appear in court, and asked Bailey-Rihn to set bail at $500,000.

Bailey-Rihn said that while Cook is innocent at this point, a signature bond was not appropriate in the case because of the violent allegations and Cook’s current lack of ties to Dane County. She said the allegation, stated in the complaint, that he told a woman that he had “let go of societal norms a long time ago,” also weighed in favor of cash bail.

In addition to setting $100,000 bail, Bailey-Rihn ordered Cook to surrender his passport; banned him from coming to Dane County except for court hearings, meetings with his lawyers or UW administrative hearings; not use social media or dating websites and to be accompanied by a parent when he visits Dane County. He is also to only be in Minnesota or Wisconsin.

UW-Madison issued an email alert Friday telling students to call 911 if Cook is seen on campus.

A preliminary hearing, originally set for Dec. 27, was pushed back to Jan. 20. Van Wagner said that he and Nicholson will file motions to dismiss the case before the preliminary hearing. They also may seek to move Cook’s trial outside Dane County, citing the possibility of a tainted jury pool, Van Wagner said.