(Photo courtesy: U.S. Marshals Service)
LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — U.S. Marshals have announced the arrest of a man in Lewisburg who they say escaped from a prison facility in Arkansas in 2022.
According to a release from the U.S. Marshals Service, Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, who was an inmate at the East Arkansas Regional Jail, was arrested at the Quality Inn in Lewisburg on Tuesday. Hartman was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter but escaped on a work detail in a field near the facility where he was being held.
Hartman’s wife, Misty Hartman, 39, and his mother Linda Annette White, 61 were also taken into custody in Lewisburg as well as White’s boyfriend, Rodney Trent, 52, of Lester, West Virginia. The release said that both women allegedly helped Hartman escape from prison using a pickup truck and jet skis.
Trent is now facing felony charges for allegedly harboring a sex offender and for assisting the trio while they were on the run.
“Today’s capture was the result of deliberate and determined law enforcement work,” said Joe Profiri, Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections. “The United States Marshals Service, Arkansas State Police, and the Arkansas Department of Corrections have kept this case on the forefront and followed hundreds of leads over the course of the last year. We appreciate the support and assistance from all agencies involved, the Arkansas Governor’s office, and the State of West Virginia in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.”
According to the release, on Aug. 12, 2022, a truck approached the crew of a work detail near the East Arkansas Regional Unit. Two women, who were later identified as Misty Hartman and Linda White, exited the vehicle and fired several shots toward the crew as inmate Hartman ran to the truck. The truck fled and Department of Corrections (DOC) officers pursued the vehicle to an area near the Mississippi River, where all three in the truck fled to two pre-staged jet skis.
A short time later, law enforcement in Mississippi and Arkansas located the abandoned jet skis on the riverbank of the Mississippi side of the river. An eyewitness on the riverbank reported that they saw “one man and two” riding jet skis across the river, the release said.
In March 2023, U.S. Marshals Service investigators paired up with investigators in the Eastern District of Arkansas to find the three fugitives. The investigation found that Linda White had ties to West Virginia and subsequently contacted the Southern District of West Virginia for assistance.
The West Virginia State Police, Lewisburg Police Department and the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office all assisted with the arrest.
