Wayne D. Lozier Jr., a Louisiana bounty hunter, has been sentenced to three years in prison, with credit for time served, after kidnapping a woman in Missouri and taking her to Louisiana to face an outstanding arrest warrant. Lozier had been in custody since March 31, 2022, and his sentence accounts for the time he has already spent behind bars.
Details of the Kidnapping Incident
In 2019, Lozier traveled to St. Peter’s, Missouri, to locate a woman who had an outstanding arrest warrant in Louisiana for four misdemeanor offenses. He and his partner, Jody L. Sullivan, were hired by a bail bond company to find and return the woman to Louisiana.
Lozier first contacted the victim, pretending to be a deputy from St. Tammany Parish, in order to trick her into revealing her home address. On May 9, 2019, Lozier and Sullivan entered the victim’s home, went to the basement, and handcuffed her. They then drove her away in an SUV without the homeowner’s permission.
After the homeowner contacted the police, law enforcement told Lozier that he was breaking the law and needed to return the woman. However, Lozier refused and continued with his actions.
Victim’s Attempt to Seek Help
While stopping at a gas station in Sullivan, Missouri, the victim attempted to seek help from the clerk and customers, claiming that Lozier and Sullivan were not police officers. Lozier responded by shocking the victim with a Taser and dragging her by her hair.
In a bodycam video obtained by WAFB, Lozier can be heard saying, “Get up. I’m not going to say it again,” after Tasing the woman. “You’re under arrest, get up. I don’t need to be a cop to arrest you.”
The video also shows Lozier and Sullivan shackling the victim with handcuffs and leg shackles, then forcibly dragging her out of the gas station.
Lozier’s Arrest and Additional Violations
When local police arrived, Lozier told them that he and Sullivan were surety recovery agents licensed in Louisiana, but local law enforcement had no knowledge that they had taken the victim unlawfully from St. Peter’s.
Testimony from the trial revealed that Lozier threatened the victim, saying he would have her charged with a felony, that she would never see her children again, and that she was “his property.”
Although Lozier never returned the woman to Louisiana, he dropped her off at a detention facility in Mississippi, where she was held for about a week before being released.
After his arrest, Lozier violated his pre-trial release conditions by possessing a firearm and continuing to apprehend fugitives in Louisiana, leading to his return to custody.
Sentence and Appeals
Lozier was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison in January 2024, but an appeals court overturned the conviction due to an issue with the jury instructions at trial. Lozier later pleaded guilty to the same charges in March 2025 and received a three-year sentence.
Jody Sullivan, Lozier’s partner, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges in 2023. She was sentenced to five years probation in December 2024.