Five men have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 8 kidnapping of Jeffrey Muller, 59, outside the pet food store he owns

Five men have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 8 kidnapping of Jeffrey Muller, 59, outside the pet food store he owns in Newton. Three of the men — Lonnie Swarnes, 44, Doug Stangeland, 46, and Andrew Wadel, 21 — were charged last month by Sussex County authorities with kidnapping Muller while the others face related charges in Missouri.Muller's family has said that he told the kidnappers they had the wrong man during a harrowing ride of more than 1,000 miles, as the kidnappers allegedly beat him and threatened his life. The kidnappers apparently believed him at some point, a Missouri law enforcement official said this past week."On the way back, that conversation took place, and they realized they got the wrong guy," said Steve Schlup, an investigator with the Vernon County, Mo. Sheriff's Department.
Schlup, who has conducted interviews with the alleged kidnappers, said it's not clear what they were going to do once they realized their mistake.
"He had seen their faces, and every one of these guys has unique features," Schlup said.Roy Allen Slates, 55, of Nevada. Mo., was charged last week by Missouri authorities with concealing a felony and released on $5,000 bail after cooperating with authorities during interviews, according to Missouri court papers. He allegedly hired a man named William Barger, 48, who claimed to be starting a Hells Angels chapter, to recover money lost in a Utah land deal years before when a man named Jeffrey Muller defaulted on a loan.Slates allegedly gave Barger $10,000 to finance sending three other men to New Jersey to look for Muller. But Slates has told authorities he didn't know the men planned to kidnap anyone, Schlup said.