Investigation into kidnapping caper leads to charges relating to November 2009 home invasion, shooting

Thursday, January 14, 2010
A large cache of weapons confiscated during the Jan. 11 raid on the Stangeland residence in rural Vernon County includes several rifles shotguns and three handguns. --Photo courtesy Vernon County Sheriff's Office

* Suspect arrested at Stangeland home; police find cache of guns, drugs, root out possible connection to Hell's Angels.

William James Barger, 48, of Nevada was arrested just south of Nevada on Monday, Jan 11, by the Vernon County Sheriff's Department in connection with the Nov. 9, 2009, home invasion in northern Vernon County, along Highway D near Metz, that left Charles Scammell wounded by a shotgun blast.

The arrest occurred late Monday night when Vernon and Bates County sheriffs' office deputies executed of a search warrant at 17125 S. 1413 Road, Nevada, the residence of alleged kidnapper Douglas Stangeland, looking for Barger and a cache of weapons. A large number of officers were in full protective gear because, "We didn't know, we were looking for a lot of weapons," said Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman.

William "Billy" Barger

Peckman said Barger was taken into custody without a struggle and that there were several other people in the house, but no other arrests were made. A small amount of marijuana was seized during the operation and further investigation led to an assortment of weapons being confiscated from a home in the city of Nevada. In all, 17 firearms were recovered.

Plat maps that show Scammell's property also were found during the service of a search warrant.

Barger is being held in the Vernon County Jail on 11 felony counts. All but three of the charges stem from the Nov. 9 incident and include counts of burglary, kidnapping, assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

The felony complaint filed in the Circuit Court of Vernon County also charges Barger with unlawful possession of a firearm. As a convicted felon, having been convicted in the state of New York in 1992, it is illegal for Barger to possess any of the three pistols and 14 long guns the complaint alleges him to have had.

Barger is also charged with tampering with evidence in a felony prosecution by concealing the weapons thereby interfering with the investigation into the assault and kidnapping of the Scammells on Nov. 9, 2009. One count of possession of an illegal firearm has been filed because one of the shotguns claimed to be possessed by Barger has a barrel less than 16 inches long.

Barger's arrest stems from an incident that took place over the weekend in Lake Ozark Mo. On Saturday, Jan. 9, three men, Douglas Stangeland, 46, of Nevada, Andrew David Wadel, 21, and Lonnie Eugene Swarnes, 44, both of Rich Hill were placed under arrest for kidnapping, felonious restraint and assault/armed criminal action in connection with the kidnapping of Jeffrey Muller of Newton, New Jersey. Extradition hearings for Stangeland and for Wadel in connection with the Jan. 8 incident in which the men allegedly took Muller by force from his New Jersey pet food store, is set for Feb. 10, in a Miller County court. Swarnes waived extradition, and extradition was ordered in a Jan. 11 court appearance in Miller County.

The probable cause statement filed in Vernon County Circuit Court in conjunction with the Barger case states that Swarnes, while in custody in the Miller County Jail, in an interview with an FBI agent, claims that he, Stangeland and Wadel perpetrated the Scammell invasion in an effort to learn the whereabouts of a man named Jeffrey Muller in the incident.

Swarnes also stated that the three of them kidnapped Muller with orders from Barger to return him to Missouri.

The statement goes on to say that Swarnes identified Stangeland as the man who shot Scammell during the commission of that crime, an action costing Scammell three fingers of his right hand. They questioned the Scammells about "anyone named Muller," and were told that they'd had a business dealing with a man named Muller "about 10 years ago," who, last he knew. lived in New Jersey. Swarnes told police that they then tied the Scammells to chairs with zip ties and told them not to tell police what really happened.

During the investigation, Swarnes, as contained in the probable cause statement, told investigators that he, Stangeland and Wadel were all "prospects' in a proposed Hell's Angels club being started in the Midwest and that Barger claims to be the son of Sonny Barger, the founder of the infamous motorcycle club. "William, aka Billy, Barger," claimed he was to be the president of the Midwest chapter.

The court documents also claim that Swarnes said his family was threatened by Barger, who indicated they would be harmed if Swarnes would not do Barger's bidding. Similar threats have been made to Barger's live-in girlfriend and her children, and there is a report from the Bates County Sheriff's Office of a reported voice mail threat by Barger to blow someone's "f -- head off."

Barger was arraigned in the Vernon County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Jan. 13, before the Associate Circuit Judge Neal Quitno. During the video arraignment, in which judge and the accused can see and hear each other on a closed-circuit television, Judge Quitno read Barger the charges against him and the penalties for those crimes if convicted.

Quitno asked if he understood each charge as read. At one point Barger replied, "Kind of, I'm not saying I totally understand 'em." Quitno advised him that if he could not afford an attorney, the Vernon County Sheriff's Office could provide him the application for public defender services. Barger remains without bond in the Vernon County Jail. His next scheduled court appearance is Jan. 21 for a pre-hearing conference.

Officials didn't say whether more charges relating to the case are pending.


The charges

William "Billy" Barger has been charged with the following crimes:

1 count of burglary in the first degree: class B felony.

2 counts of kidnapping: class B felony.

1 count of assault in the first degree: class B felony.

4 felony counts of armed criminal action.

1 count of unlawful possession of a firearm: class C felony.

1 count of tampering with physical evidence: class D felony.

1 count of possession of an illegal firearm: class C felony.

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