Charges are upheld in preliminary hearing for suspect connected to home invasion

By Rusty Murry

Nevada Daily Mail

William J. Barger appeared in a Vernon County courtroom Thursday, looking thinner, older, and paler than he did in his first court appearance before Associate Circuit Judge Neal Quitno on Jan 13, after he was arrested in connection with the Jan. 8 kidnapping of New Jersey pet food dealer Jeffrey Muller and the Nov. 9, 2009, home invasion of Charles Scammell in rural Vernon County.

It was a long wait before Barger's preliminary hearing began and he moved from the jury box, where he was seated with the other prisoners, to be seated at the table with his attorney, Jeffrey Martin, a public defender from Harrisonville.

At one point during the wait, Martin spoke with Barger and whatever he told him didn't sit well with Barger. Barger spent the next several moments wringing his hands, scrunching his eyes together and shaking his head.

During the hearing, deputies from the Vernon and Bates county sheriff's offices testified regarding the service of a search warrant on the home at 1840 West Maple in Nevada. Officers told the prosecution that during the execution of the warrant on Maple they learned that a large number of guns had been moved from that residence to a home on East Hickory Street in Nevada. While one officer transported Barger to the Vernon County Sheriff's office, others continued the search.

Officers informed the court that Tina Morris told them about a large cache of guns that had been removed from the house and taken to another location. Morris then met officers at her East Hickory street residence and gave them consent to search.

According to Kim Hunter, a third witness in the hearing, and Morris' sister. Morris moved the guns there at the insistence of Barger, but she (Hunter) had "no involvement, didn't know who they belonged to." As Hunter testified, Barger was frantically writing on a large yellow legal pad that he slid over to his attorney when he finished.

Barger faces one count of burglary in the first degree, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault in the first degree, four felony counts of armed criminal action, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of tampering with physical evidence and one count of possession of knowingly possessing an illegal weaon.

After all testimony was concluded, the court ruled that there was probable cause to believe that Barger did commit the alleged felonies of burglary, kidnapping, assault and armed criminal action. The court also ruled that regarding charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, evidence tampering and that there was probable cause to believe that Barger did have control of the weapons in question and did order the removal of them for the purpose of concealing them and that the one weapon, a sawed of shotgun, was an illegal weapon. Barger was ordered bound over for formal arraignment on April 20.

Barger was arrested as a result of the investigation into the alleged Jan. 8 kidnapping of New Jersey pet food dealer Jeffrey Muller. Muller was allegedly kidnapped from his place of business on Jan. 8 by Douglas Stangeland of Nevada and Andrew Wadel and Lonnie Swarnes, both of Rich Hill.

All three men were arrested on Jan. 9 in Lake Ozark, Mo. when a store clerk called police after seeing Muller trying to escape while the alleged kidnappers tried to repair their car. Swarnes waived his extradition rights and has been extradited back to New Jersey where he has entered a plea of not guilty to the kidnapping charge. He is being held on $750,000 bond.

Stangeland and Wadel are both being held in the Vernon County jail awaiting extradition back to New Jersey on Governor's warrants issued for both men in March. Vernon County officials can't give a reason why the pair hasn't been extradited and Sussex County New Jersey Prosecutor Gregory Mueller has not returned calls to his office in the matter.

Roy A. Slates of Nevada was the last person arrested in connection with the November 2009 home invasion and the Jan. 8 kidnapping. Slates is represented by Joseph Passanise of Springfield, Mo., and is set to appear for a preliminary hearing on May 27. Slates is free on $5,000 bond.