Bounty Hunter on Lam in San Diego County Case Arrested in Riverside

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - An alleged bounty hunter who authorities said was on

the lam on allegations of unlawfully detaining two people and burglarizing

a home in San Diego County earlier this year has been arrested in Riverside

County on assault charges that also stem from his work as a bounty hunter.

Jesse Wagner, 47, who was described by authorities last week as a

fugitive who owns the bounty hunting company Fugitive Warrants, was booked into

the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on Tuesday, jail records show.

Riverside County prosecutors charged him last year with assault with a

deadly weapon, possession of body armor while having a previous violent

felony conviction and being a felon while possessing a stun gun.

According to court documents, Wagner is accused of assaulting and

repeatedly Tasing a man in Riverside while he and others sought a fugitive.

According to a declaration authored by a Riverside police detective,

Wagner and others were in Riverside on Sept. 24, 2020, seeking a man who was

out of custody on bail and had cut off his GPS bracelet, but ended up ramming a

different man's vehicle, dragging the victim out of his car, then punching and

Tasing him multiple times.

Wagner told police that while seeking the fugitive, whose mother lived

in the area where the incident occurred, he saw the alleged victim point a

gun at the bounty hunters, then later toss the firearm out of his car window.

Wagner said the fugitive they were pursuing was in the passenger seat of the

car, but was dropped off at some point.

After stopping the alleged victim's vehicle, Wagner said he approached

the car and saw the man reach toward the side of his car seat ``as if

reaching for a gun,'' prompting Wagner to Taser him. One of the other bounty

hunters told police that no gun was ever seen and ``he thought (Wagner) was

telling the officer that to create a scenario/excuse to justify what he did,''

the declaration states.

In a news release issued last week, the California Department of

Insurance described Wagner as a fugitive in a San Diego County case in which he

and others allegedly arrested a fugitive in National City on June 10, then

burglarized his home.

The department said Wagner and his co-defendants then tracked down

their suspect's girlfriend, who was not wanted for any crimes.

While she was in a car being driven by her father, the defendants

allegedly made a traffic stop on the car, then took the girlfriend and her

father back to her house. Wagner and his team ``falsely imprisoned them in an

attempt to locate the fugitive's firearms,'' according to the Department of

Insurance.

Wagner, who also has a 2006 robbery conviction out of San Bernardino

County, faces charges in San Diego County that include kidnapping, false

imprisonment, and burglary. He's also due in a Riverside courtroom on Nov. 30

in his other case.

Last week the department announced the arrests of two of Wagner's co-

defendants, Daniel Johnathan Hawks, 42, and Annette Bianca Garcia, 35, both of

whom are accused of taking part in the San Diego County incident. They pleaded

not guilty in a Chula Vista courtroom last week.

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