Lonnie Swarnes arraigned

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Tuesday afternoon saw Lonnie E. Swarnes arraigned in Vernon County circuit court on two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of first-degree assault, four counts of armed criminal action and a single charge of first degree burglary.

The charges claim Swarnes “acted in concert” with his nephew – Andrew Wadel of Rich Hill – and Douglas Stangeland of Nevada, to perpetrate the home invasion of Charles and Linda Scammel of Richards, Missouri.

As noted in the probable cause sheet, Scammell was questioned about his knowledge of anyone by the name of Muller. Scammell told them he had had some business dealings with a Jeffrey Muller about 10 years earlier, and the last he knew, Muller lived in New Jersey.

The three perpetrators wore ski masks and preceded their questioning of Scammel by shooting him in the hand, resulting in the loss of three fingers on Scammell’s right hand. After questioning, the Scammells were tied to chairs using zip ties.

The case went unsolved until early January 2010, when the kidnapping of the wrong Muller went sour. Wadel, Swarnes and Stangeland had gone to New Jersey to get Muller but kidnapped the wrong Jeffrey Muller and as they were driving him back to Missouri, their vehicle broke down in Lake Ozark. 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 jail, and the investigation really began. During an FBI interview, Swarnes claimed that he, Stangeland and Wadel perpetrated the Scammell home invasion and had kidnapped Muller on orders from William Barger of Nevada, to return Muller to Missouri.

Swarnes told of how he, Wadel and Stangland were “prospects” for a Hell’s Angels motorcycle club being started in the area. Barger told the others, he was not only going to be the president of that club but further claimed the founder of Hell’s Angels, a man named Sonny Barger, was his father. In actuality, there is no relation between the two men named Barger.

Between the lure of promises made and not so subtle threats, Barger ordered the three to get the needed information as to the whereabouts of Muller from Scammel and then find, kidnap and return him for their reward.

Barger’s involvement goes back to a man named Roy Slates. Both in his construction business and personally, hard times fell on Slates. Missouri’s Division of Employment Security fined him more than $11,000 in April 2004. In addition, two credit card companies filed claims against him totaling more than $20,000, plus interest and court costs.

One night, Slates, a former Nevada building contractor, was drinking and bemoaning the loss of $485,000 in a Utah construction deal years before, in which one Jeffrey Muller had failed to deliver. Douglas Stangeland listened to the story and later told it to Barger. Barger and the others were promised a significant percentage of any funds they recouped.

On Aug. 30, 2016, in Nevada, William “Billy” Barger accepted a plea agreement sentence of 12 years for his involvement in the same incident.

Slates pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court to conspiracy to commit theft by extortion while 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.

On hand at the arraignment were the defendant, his attorney, Renee Gotviagehya – who heads the local public defender’s office – and Assistant Missouri Attorney Generals Benjamin Fox Butler and Randa Marie Morris serving as the special prosecuting attorneys for this case.

Presiding Circuit Judge, David Munton, set a trial date of Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. with a case management conference set for Aug. 15 at 1 p.m.

In New Jersey, Swarnes has already been convicted on federal charges related to the January 2010 interstate kidnapping of Jeffrey Muller and was sentenced to a total of 25 years.

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