Alleged bounty hunter gets prison for kidnapping fugitive’s girlfriend in National City

A man who prosecutors say was acting as a bounty hunter when he and others allegedly kidnapped a fugitive’s girlfriend and burglarized the couple’s National City home was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison.

The sentencing of Jesse A. Wagner, 50, in Chula Vista Superior Court ends an unusual case that grew to include three incidents in other local cities, including one in which a bystander was boxed in by alleged bounty hunters in darkened SUVs on an Oceanside street.

Wagner admitted to a role in all four incidents, pleading guilty to one count each of burglary and assault with a stun gun, and two counts of false imprisonment.

“He used illegal methods and went outside of any authority to try to obtain the fugitive, essentially broke the law and kidnapped and falsely imprisoned other people in order to get his fugitive, instead of just going straight after the fugitive,” Deputy District Attorney Carlos Campbell said.

Wagner’s defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Wagner was extradited to California from Colorado, where he was serving a prison sentence for allegations also related to behaving as a bounty hunter. He also faces a pending case in Riverside County with similar allegations.

Prosecutors said the investigation into Wagner began after he and a crew of his fellow bounty hunters arrested a fugitive at a National City home on June 10, 2022. After taking him into custody, the crew went looking for the man’s girlfriend, who was not wanted for a crime.

The bounty hunters caught up with the woman as she was sitting in a car that her father was driving. The crew pulled the car over at gunpoint and illegally detained the two, insurance department investigators said.

They took the woman home, where they seized a handful of firearms from inside. The guns were then handed over to National City police, Campbell said.

Wagner ran the bounty hunting company Fugitive Warrants. He is not licensed as a bail agent, which is a requirement to act as a bounty hunter. The state’s Department of Insurance took the lead on the investigation and was “all over it,” Campbell said. The investigation that followed the National City incident led the District Attorney’s Office to charge Wagner with allegations of aggressive behavior during bounty operations that had occurred months prior in East County and North County.

In El Cajon in March 2022, Wagner used a stun gun on someone unconnected to the fugitive he was looking for in a home — a place Campbell said Wagner had no authority. Wagner was injured in the incident, and his call for help prompted a response by a swarm of El Cajon police.

In Oceanside the following month, Campbell alleged, Wagner and others used force on the girlfriend of a fugitive they were seeking, similar to the National City case. “They drag her out, they eventually take her to the ground and assault her pretty bad, in front of witnesses,” he said. Later that day, when they found and arrested that fugitive, the girlfriend was again detained and assaulted, Campbell alleged.

The next day, while in Oceanside looking for a different fugitive, Campbell alleged, Wagner and others tied to a bounty hunter operation spotted a woman in her car, thought she was behaving “weird” and suspected she was tied to the fugitive.

When she tried to drive off, the group used two “blacked out” vehicles to box her in. “She’s terrified. Doesn’t know who they are, but then they eventually let her go,” Campbell said. The woman had no ties to those they were looking for. “They cornered her. She’s in tears and shaking,” he said.

One of Wagner’s co-defendants was also sentenced Wednesday for his guilty plea to assault, which was downgraded to a misdemeanor charge. Two other co-defendants previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.

Campbell said the Colorado and San Diego County sentences are to be served concurrently. Wagner will be returned to Colorado to finish his time there, then come back to California to finish his remaining time on the local case.