Slates pleads guilty in kidnapping case

Roy A. Slates of Nevada appeared before Presiding Judge James R. Bickel in a Vernon County Courtroom on Tuesday, Oct. 4 and entered guilty pleas in the bizarre kidnapping case that left a northern Vernon County, Mo. man shot and another abducted from New Jersey and brought to Missouri.

Slates is charged with one class D felony of concealing a felony and a class D felony of hindering the prosecution of a felony. The charges were filed in February of 2010 after Jeffrey Muller of Newton, N.J., escaped from alleged kidnappers Andrew Wadel and Lonnie Swarnes of Rich Hill, Mo. and Douglas Stangeland of Nevada, Mo. and the scheme to recover money that Slates supposedly lost in a land deal went bad.

Muller was forcibly taken from his pet supply store on Jan. 8, 2010, bound and hauled to Missouri. He escaped when the kidnappers' car broke down in Lake Ozark, Mo. After Muller's escape, the plan fell apart and William Barger, of Nevada, Mo. was implicated and arrested. Eventually, Slates also was arrested in the case.

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 has agreed to cooperate in further prosecutions and his sentencing in N. J. will be delayed until the other cases are resolved.

Slates and his attorney Brandon Fisher appeared before Bickel on Oct. 4. The trial dates were stricken and the court requested to see the Sentencing Assessment Report before accepting the plea bargain. A sentencing date has been set in the case for Nov. 15, 2011.

In July of 2011, Andrew Wadel, was sentenced to 18 years in a New Jersey prison for his role in the kidnapping. Wadel pleaded guilty to kidnapping and lesser charges. Stangeland and Swarnes were offered similar deals by New Jersey prosecutors but they declined. Barger has not been offered a deal at this point.

All three men remain in custody in New Jersey. Stangeland and Swarnes are being held in the Sussex County jail, and Barger is being held in a separate New Jersey lockup.