Mistaken-identity kidnapper's sentencing delayed, report says

Lonnie Swarnes, 50, pleaded guilty earlier this year to kidnapping and attempted theft by extortion for kidnapping Jeffrey Muller, authorities have said.

NEWTON -- The sentencing of Lonnie Swarnes, one of the men who kidnapped a Newton business owner in 2010, was postponed this week, New Jersey Herald reported.

Lonnie Swarnes, 50, pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree kidnapping and second-degree attempted theft by extortion for kidnapping Jeffrey Muller, authorities have said. He's facing up to 25 years in state prison as part of his plea deal.

As previously reported by NJ Advance Media, authorities said 51-year-old William Barger enlisted Swarnes, Swarnes' nephew, Andrew Wadel, and Douglas Stangeland to kidnap Jeffrey Muller, a Mahwah money broker, by telling them they would be considered for membership in a new Hells Angels motorcycle chapter he was forming, if they kidnapped him. Barger falsely claimed he was the son of Hells Angel motorcycle club founder Ralph "Sonny" Barger, authorities have said.

Barger sought to recoup some of the $500,000 that was lost by Missouri businessman Roy Slates to Muller in a business deal. Barger and the kidnappers would get a portion of the proceeds.

Instead, the trio abducted the wrong Jeffrey Muller and, during a 1,200-mile trip to Nevada, their car broke down in Lake Ozark, Mo., allowing the Newton Muller to escape.

Last defendant pleads guilty to mistaken-identity kidnapping

Swarnes' sentencing was delayed this week due to another trial that Judge Thomas S. Critchley is overseeing, New Jersey Herald reported. He's next expected to appear before the court on Jan. 5 and 6, the newspaper reported.

Swarnes planned to argue as a mitigating factor prior to his sentencing that he served as a confidential informant for the Missouri State Highway Patrol at the time of the kidnapping, Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Greg Mueller has said. According to the prosecutor, Swarnes had been fired by that agency prior to the kidnapping.

Earlier this year, Stangeland was convicted on all charges -- including conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit a kidnapping -- but his sentencing has been postponed after he was hospitalized and placed on life support at Morristown Medical Center following his conviction.

Barger was sentenced earlier this year to 12 years in state prison after pleading guilty to first-degree accomplice liability, New Jersey Herald previously reported.

Wadel has also entered a guilty plea and is serving two concurrent 18-year sentences. Slates, who has already pleaded guilty to his role in the kidnapping, has been sentenced to three years, according to New Jersey Herald.

Reporting by Joe Moszczynski and Kimberly Redmond was used in this article.