Wadel sentenced to 18 years in home invasion

Thursday, June 7, 2012

By Rusty Murry

Nevada Daily Mail

Andrew Wadel, 24, Rich Hill, Mo. was sentenced to five lengthy prison sentences after pleading guilty to several felony counts in the Circuit Court of Vernon County on Tuesday. The sentences stem from the November 2009 home invasion of Charles Scammell.

Presiding Judge James R. Bickel sentenced Wadel to 15 years on a single count of the class B felony of first degree burglary; seven years each on two counts of the class C felony of felonious restraint; seven years on one count of second degree assault, a class C felony and 18 years on one count of armed criminal action, an unclassified felony. The final three charges of armed criminal action were dismissed.

All sentences are to run concurrently with each other and with the 18 year sentence Wadel is serving in a New Jersey prison for his part in the kidnapping of New Jersey pet food dealer Jeffrey Muller. Bickel gave Wadel credit for time served, beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

This closes the Wadel chapter in the strange case that has put five men behind bars. Wadel, was one of three men who allegedly broke into Scammell's northern Vernon County house and held Scammell and his wife at gunpoint in a effort to learn the whereabouts of a man named Jeffrey Muller. Scammell was injured by a blast from a shotgun during the incident.

That case went unsolved until early January 2010, when the kidnapping of Muller went sour. Wadel, Lonnie Swarnes of Rich Hill and Douglas Stangeland of Nevada had gone to New Jersey to get Muller and were driving him back to Missouri, when their vehicle broke down near the Lake of the Ozarks. That gave Muller a chance to escape and alert a convenience store attendant, who called the police.

All three men ended up in the Miller County, Mo., jail, and the investigation really began. During an FBI interview, Swarnes claimed that he, Stangeland and Wadel perpetrated the Scammell home invasion and that they kidnapped Muller on orders from William Barger, of Nevada, to return Muller to Missouri.

The official statement states that Swarnes identified Stangeland as the person who shot Scammell during the home invasion. Scammell lost three fingers of his right hand as a result of the gunshot. During the home invasion, the three questioned the Scammells about a man named Jeffrey Muller. Swarnes told police that they then tied the Scammells to chairs with zip ties and told them not to tell police what really happened.

Before it was over, five local men were arrested. The alleged kidnappers implicated Barger who was arrested in Nevada, and he implicated Roy Slates, also of Nevada, and he was arrested.

On July 27, 2011, Wadel was sentenced to 18 years in a in New Jersey prison for his role in the failed kidnapping of Muller. He admitted shooting Muller with a stun gun and pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and lesser charges.

The other two alleged kidnappers, Douglas Stangeland of Nevada and Lonnie Swarnes of Rich Hill were both offered a deal similar to Wadel's but declined. They currently are awaiting trial in a Sussex County, N. J., jail.

Barger is being held in a different New Jersey jail on numerous charges relating to the case. He was not offered any kind of a deal, according to New Jersey prosecutors. The four men allegedly kidnapped Muller because they believed Muller was a money broker with the same name who was to blame for a failed land deal involving Slates. Prosecutors say the men hoped to recoup a percentage of about $500,000.

Slates pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court to conspiracy to commit theft by extortion, a second-degree crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Slates will not be sentenced until the other cases are resolved.

On Nov. 15, 2011, Slates was given a suspended sentence of five years of court-supervised probation in Vernon County. Slates pleaded guilty to the felonies of concealing a felony and hindering prosecution. All three of the other men face charges in Vernon County when their respective proceedings in New Jersey are concluded. Wadel is the first to be returned and sentenced.

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