The U.S. Marshals, West Virginia State Police, Lewisburg Police Department and the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office have arrested a convicted rapist who had been on the run from an Arkansas prison since 2022.
Samuel Paul Hartman was captured at the Quality Inn in Lewisburg on Tuesday afternoon. The 39-year-old man was convicted in 2013 of raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter. He was sentenced to life in prison.
“In my nearly 30 years of law enforcement, I cannot recall a task force that has the level of dedication to accomplishing the mission and making our communities safer than that of CUFFED (Cops United Felony Fugitive Enforcement Division Task Force),” said Michael Baylous, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of West Virginia. “The apprehension of these dangerous fugitives demonstrates the close and outstanding relationship that CUFFED enjoys with our local and state partners, other USMS Districts, and the USMS Domestic Investigations Branch.”
Officers also arrested Hartman’s wife, Misty Hartman, his mother Linda Arnette White and White’s boyfriend Rodney Trent on various charges related to assisting an escaped convict.
Hartman escaped from the East Arkansas Regional Unit in early August of 2022 while on a work detail. Misty Hartman and White helped him escape by picking him up in a car and shooting at the work crew and correctional officers.
The three fled across the Mississippi River on jet skis and had been on the loose since then.
Hartman will likely be extradited back to Arkansas.
