Convicted rapist who escaped from Arkansas prison using jet ski in 2022 is captured, authorities say

Source: Associated Press

Convicted rapist who escaped from Arkansas prison using jet ski in 2022 is captured, authorities say

Updated 11:34 PM EDT, August 29, 2023

LEWISBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A convicted rapist who authorities say used a jet ski during an escape from an Arkansas prison last year was arrested Tuesday in West Virginia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, was arrested along with his wife, his mother and his mother’s boyfriend at a hotel in Lewisburg, the Marshals Service said in a news release.

The women are accused of helping Hartman escape in August 2022 from the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys, 96 miles (155 kilometers) east of Little Rock.

Hartman was on a work detail in a field near the detention facility when a pickup truck with the women inside approached. Several gunshots were fired at a corrections officer from the waiting vehicle as Hartman ran to it. The vehicle fled to two jet skis staged near the Mississippi River not far from the prison, the statement said.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/convict-escape-jet-ski-west-virginia-arkansas-aeadf9a0c16405660d165d0c8b6a1769

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Related: U.S. Marshals Arrest Arkansas Escapee in West Virginia (U.S. Marshals Service)