Local News
Fifth suspect charged in ‘wrong Muller’ case
By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
NEVADA, Mo. — A Nevada contractor has been charged with concealing his involvement in a Missouri home invasion and a subsequent errant abduction of a New Jersey man.
Roy A. Slates, 55, was arrested Thursday at the Vernon County sheriff’s office and charged with concealing a felony and hindering prosecution. He posted $5,000 bond and was released.
Court documents allege that Slates was a second key figure behind three men’s alleged armed invasion of the home of Charles and Linda Scammell on Nov. 9 in rural Vernon County, and the abduction last month of New Jersey pet store owner Jeffrey Muller.
Douglas Stangeland, 46, of Nevada, and Lonnie Swarnes, 44, and Swarnes’ nephew, Andrew Wadel, 21, both of Rich Hill, were apprehended Jan. 9 in Lake Ozark after allegedly abducting Muller in New Jersey and bringing him back with them to Missouri. They subsequently also were charged with the home invasion during which Scammell was shot in the hand.
A fourth suspect and reputed ringleader, William J. Barger, 48, of rural Nevada, was arrested a few days later and charged with directing the others to commit the home invasion. Barger is also believed to have sent them to New Jersey to grab Muller, but the pet store owner proved to be the wrong Muller.
Money motive
Sheriff Ron Peckman told the Globe that it all appears to have started with Slates’ desire to recover $400,000 he lost in a business deal with a different man named Jeffrey Muller on a building project in Utah.
“Stangeland and Slates were sitting around a bar one night talking about how each of them had lost money,” the sheriff said. “So Stangeland went to Barger about it and they came up with an idea how to recoup Slates’ money and make some money themselves while doing it.”
A probable-cause affidavit filed Thursday states that Scammell, the owner of a construction business in the Kansas City area, also was involved in the deal that lost Slates’ money. The affidavit states that Barger struck a deal with Slates to try to get his money back for a 25 percent share of whatever was recovered.
Peckman said that deal led to the home invasion and the shooting of Scammell.
“We had spoke to (Slates) after the home invasion and he said he didn’t know anything about it,” the sheriff said.
That denial allegedly came in an interview with sheriff’s investigator Steve Schlup on Dec. 31.
Following his arrest Jan. 9, Stangeland told investigators that Slates gave Barger $10,000 to finance a trip to New Jersey, which became a prelude to Muller’s abduction, according to the affidavit.
That information jibes with something the pet store owner’s son told reporters following his father’s kidnapping. He said his father recalled seeing two of the suspects loitering about his store several weeks prior to the abduction.
Slates was interviewed a second time at the sheriff’s office on Jan. 15 and admitted to a role in the whole affair, the affidavit alleges.
‘Big plan’
“I guess when they came up with their big plan he was all for it,” the sheriff said.
But he told investigators that he did not know they intended to invade Scammell’s home.
“He said he didn’t want anybody to get hurt,” Peckman said.
He said Slates told them that after the home invasion, he started wanting out of the deal and told the other suspects that. The sheriff did not know exactly when Slates claims to have bailed out. The affidavit alleges that he admitted to giving Barger $10,000 toward the New Jersey trip before doing so.
‘Right’ Muller
The Jeffrey Muller that a group of Missouri men reportedly tried to locate to recoup $400,000 lost in a business deal remains a shadowy figure in a two-state investigation.
The Vernon County sheriff said he has been told where the “right Muller’’ is. The sheriff declines to say if that Muller has been questioned by any investigators about the matter.
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