Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Fugitive Rapist Nabbed By Iowa Cops After Giving Fake Name

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

George Hartleroad, 71, was riding his bike in West Des Moines, Iowa when an officer stopped him for a minor bicycle infraction. Little did the officer know that he was dealing with a fugitive with a violent past. Police body cameras recorded Hartleroad giving police several fake social security numbers and birthdates. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy shows how police finally pieced together who Hartleroad was and where he was from in this episode of Crime Fix —a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. How you doing, buddy? You got to have a rear reflector on your bike, my man, if you're going to ride on the roadway. A chance meeting between a police officer and a man on a bike leads to an arrest for a fugitive who's been on the lam for nearly 30 years. I just can't let you go at this point till I verify who you are. So I lay out how a police officer in Iowa nabbed a man who's been convicted of rape and other charges who's been living in the woods. What's crazy is 1990. That means you've been on the run

longer than two out of the three officers here on the street that have been alive. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. George Hartle Road was out on his bike in West Des Moines, Iowa back on June 26th, and I doubt he expected a police officer to stop him. He was on his bike, and really, who gets stopped on a bike? Keep in mind, this police officer has absolutely no idea that he's dealing with a man who's been convicted of rape and other charges involving firearms and who's been hiding from law enforcement since 1995. Yes, 1995. That's a long time, nearly 30 years. But this police officer saw something that wasn't quite right and stopped Hartle Road, who gave a false name. Take a look. How you doing, buddy? You got to have a rear reflector on your bike, my man,

if you're going to ride on the roadway. So what's up? Oh, okay. So and then if you're going to ride at night, you need a front light. I'm sure you know that. But you got an idea on you real quick, just so I can say I stopped to talk with you. Okay. Can I get your... Greg Stallins. Greg Stallins is your name? Gregory Stallins. Gregory G-R-E-G-O-R-Y? Yeah. And how do you spell Stallins? S-T-A-L-L-I-N-S. S? What's your date of birth?

So you're not going to be able to hear the false date of birth and the false social security number because most police departments have rules about redacting that information. You heard that man on the bike give the name Gregory Stallins, though, so the officer went to run the name. Bear with me, buddy. I'll get you out of here as fast as I can. 41-50, 41-70, clear. Copy. Crack, you're in a park on suspicious activity. RMP, stay to... New message. I think I wrote something down wrong. What's your full social?

The name Gregory Stallings doesn't really come back to anyone and neither does the social security number. Gregory, I'm still not getting that back. Are you sure that's right? I've been a long time since I had to look. The officer then asked someone at the dispatch center to run Greg Stallings name. The officer explains why he's so concerned about Greg Stallins not having a reflector on his bike. The reason why is because I hate if you're riding your bike and someone rear ends you. Oh, yeah. And then they can try it. They can kind of point the blade because the reflector.

Yeah. And I hate that because it's like, no, it's. I understand that. Copy. Can we try a soc and i'm also with our traffic units i do all our accident investigations so whenever bikes are involved almost always is way worse than yes you usually hit you from behind yep i just can't let you go at this point till i verify who you are so They usually hit you from behind. Yep. Yes, they do. I just can't let you go at this point until I verify who you are, so. That's cool.

Things get more interesting when Greg Stallins tells the officer where he lives. Just going to Ivy. There you go. What are you going to get today? I get some cigarettes first. Nice. See if I can maybe pick up a dog treat for my dog. Oh, there we go.

Where do you live at? Down in the woods, way back over that way in Des Moines. Nice. You like your spot back there? Oh, yeah. I've been there for a bit. Yeah. Just enough to seclude it a little bit, hopefully?

Yeah. Unless they come walking up the trail or whatever. So the man, who claims he's Greg Stollins, admits he's homeless and doesn't have an ID, but the officer still gives it another try. Have you ever had an Iowa driver's license before? No, not here. What was the driver's license you have had? Florida, maybe. I haven't had a driver's license in years. Copy. Can you try running him through Florida? What's your middle name? W. W? W.

Middle initial W as in William. How long have you been living up here then? You haven't tried to get an ID card or anything yet? No. No? Never had. I guess there's no reason to, yeah. There's no reason.

Because I am not driving or anything. Yeah, makes sense. You got big plans for the day? No. No? Stay out of the heat. All right. It's flat. It rained.

It cooled down finally. Yeah. Instead of baking my ass off. How was last night with the storm? Was it all right? Oh, yeah. The storm's going fine. No? No. They don't flood your tent

or anything that's good good copy all right buddy I need some way to verify it. So what state, do you know a state that you've had a DL out of? Because it's not Florida. You've never had a driver's license ever? I love it. I'm trying to remember the last one I had.

I got ran over and my brain ain't quite... It's okay. I just, I need to verify before I can let you go in case... Okay. I remember you. Okay. For a long time. Okay. Do you have anything with your name on it? Do you have...

Nothing with me. I didn't do nothing with me. Okay. There's nothing in this little backpack here that you didn't see? I just have a chain with a... Okay. Okay. Try to think for me.

Where was the last place you had an ID then? I know up here at Human Services they know me. Human Services know you? Yeah, right here west of the morning. Yeah, I volunteer out there every morning putting stuff up. We can go right up there and you can go up here and talk to us. I would, just think of what state. I can get you through any state even if it's really old, so. It's been. I know it's been a while.

Yeah, a long time. Yeah Just try to think for me. I'm sorry, I can't help you. I'm sorry. Where else have you lived? I lived here a long time. I lived in Florida for a bit. I've lived literally a lot of different places. Washington, Oregon, California.

Eventually, the officer just gives up. All right, buddy. I'm just going to take your word for it, okay? Okay, thank you. I don't shake hands, sorry. Yep, you're good. Drive safe. But Gregory Stallins' encounter with police that day is far from over. So what we're going to do for now while I keep investigating this is I'm going to take a picture of you and send it to our guy who has facial rec. So you pull your hat off and your glasses off. All right. All right. We just have a seat on the curb for me, buddy. Yes,

they're using facial recognition software to try to verify his identity. I called Pop already, too, and verified with him on the way over if I found him that he's okay with doing it. He gave me a new date of birth, so I'm going to try it, but it's only a couple days off, so I feel like Clear would have been able to pull that up. Yeah, SOS is always the best for Clear, too, is what I was told. I didn't know that. It's very cool. for clear to do is what I was told. I didn't know that. Zero one. It's probably nothing. He's still got due diligence.

Yeah. All right, I'll talk with him. See if he can possibly happen to remember a new social or something. And both the socials he gave me come back to other people. One of them's deceased. The other one's a lady. So I don't think either of those are you. Can you try to I know you had that brain injury that we talked about.

But can you try your best? Can you think of a social? If you watch Crime Fix, you know how many cases I cover that are about sex offenders and other criminals. Just look at this case. It's important that you know who you're dealing with when you meet new people. And Truthfinder.com is a website that can help you with that. Truthfinder.com is one of the world's largest databases. You can search anyone and find out where they've lived.

And it will even show you criminal records information and whether someone is a convicted sex offender. I have a family, so I use Truthfinder all of the time to look up the people that my son meets and that I meet, and I use it all of the time for work. It's very helpful. The information that you can find is actually pretty shocking. And if you search your address, it will show you sex offenders who live in your area. So right now, you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. Stallins gave him one of the same Social Security numbers that he had given earlier. That's one of the ones that he gave me earlier.

Because here's the issues. I don't want to arrest you for stopping you without the rear reflector, because like I told you, I just stop people to let them know because I don't want it to be your fault when you get hit. But if I cannot verify who you are and the info you did give me comes back to nobody and that comes back to other people that's the bigger issue you know what i mean buddy yeah a little bit of time passes and then the officer gets more information about gregory stallins the info that's now given comes back to a deceased person so we've got a situation here understood Understood Alright brother Time to be honest with me okay So the info you give me comes back to a dead guy.

Gregory Stallings is dead. And the Soch, yeah. So who are you? You're Gregory, you're just not dead? I'm not dead. Yeah? Yeah. Could it just be because I haven't been on anything for a long, long time?

They don't just declare people deceased because they haven't heard from them in a little bit. Okay. I don't know. Do we have a call from the ICA to get some sort of info or a picture? I just don't really know how to proceed with this guy without taking him into custody. Can I move my bike over there if you're going to arrest you, we're still doing a couple of things because I'm trying not to arrest you. Guess what? After all of this back and forth about Gregory Stallings and fake social security numbers and living in Florida, the shaggy man on the bike actually comes clean and gives his real name. It's George Hartle Road. Then he's caught.

I get it, brother. I mean, I get it. I see both of it. Yo, none of us are mad at you. I'm just baffled that law enforcement has let you go for 30 years and not push these people into life. What's crazy is 1990, that means you've been on the run longer than two out of the three officers here on the street that have been alive. 1995, I was one years old. 94. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Where have you been of all your different places? All over the place. Where's been your favorite? Iowa. Iowa? I don't know. Why is that? Just curious.

Well, not Michigan, though. You're going to die. Well, not Michigan, though. He gets dimes. Yeah, he can, brother. Why not Michigan? He gets dimes for that. It gets colder and fun, though. Hey, buddy, can I get that knife out of your pocket since, and then you can do whatever you want with your, I don't want it. It'll go with your stuff, but. We don't know if Wisconsin wants it yet or not.

Wisconsin definitely wanted him back. And this must have been pretty stressful for George Hurtle Road because he told the cops that he wanted to smoke and they were actually willing to help him out with that. Can you go to the bait shop and buy me a pack for $4.50? I am really inclined to do that because you were honest with us. What kind do you want? The Crown Menthol 100. I'm not going to remember that. Crown Menthol 100.

Yeah, just keep it. That's the cheapest menthol they got. I don't even have a light. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I do need a cigarette. Do you have a light, though? No. That's why I'm telling you to give me a book and matches.

Okay. All right. Just making sure. Book and matches, too. Book and matches. He's way nicer than I am, buddy. Well, most of the FBI guys I ever met, some of them are dicks, but some of them are cool. Yeah.

Well, he found the cool ones. Yeah. Who is this other one that rolled up here? It's Ice. No, it's Grove rolled up here? Ice. No, it's Grove. Maybe this is ice. Maybe they don't want me no more. Well, we're still, so, yeah, we're still figuring it out.

Maybe they don't want me. I'd like to know the information. The officer who initially stopped George Hartle Road, remember, that's his real name, then talks about charges that Hartleroad was convicted of back in Wisconsin. Possession of a short barreled rifle, false imprisonment, a bunch of stuff from, he's on the run since like 95. So he gave us false information and then gave us information of a dead guy, and then, which tipped us off. And then the hard part is that I stopped them on a city code violation because city code says that during the day you have to have a rear reflector but

state code doesn't so like I didn't want to I wanted to figure out as much as I could here and I didn't want to hook them on a city code because that makes a lot of issues so but then eventually BC showed up BC said hey man tell us your real name he just told him his real name. It turns out that George Hartleroad walked away from a halfway house in Wisconsin in 1995. He was convicted of recklessly endangering safety, false imprisonment, and possession of a short-barreled shotgun, as the officer said. KCCI out of Iowa reported that Hartleroad was also a convicted rapist. Wisconsin wants you, buddy. I figured that. I told you just for leaving the state without permission. Yeah. Well, for those charges, I'd assume, yeah. Yeah, not to know.

Yeah. Not to know. I have not committed a crime since 1982. Now the officers do remind him, they remind George Hartlerode, that he actually did violate the law that day. You committed one today. Well, that's a swap. If I wanted to have a vendetta. A crime. violate the law that day. if you're not required to provide info. If you provide false info, that's a problem. Okay. What are they going to do, give me a couple years? I'm not doing it. That's exactly it. I'm saying what's the worst they can do to me. You know, you're not wrong. You're a U.S.D.

I'm worried about what's next, and they're going to take me back. They're going to run me through the system. They're going to go, oh, we got him again. Oh, we caught him. We caught him. You're not. Everything you said today has been 100% correct. I can't be mad about any of it because you've been 100% correct.

And Hartle Road said once he gets back to Wisconsin, if he's set free, guess what? He's not staying put. I will jump again soon. They turn me loose. You know, every time. No, guys, they've been up in my ass for 30, 41 years now on a nine-year sentence. I knew they'd want me. Well, I worked in their office at one time, and I'm the one that posted all the flyers in the panel. The officers then discuss what could happen to Hartle Road when he gets back to Wisconsin.

They tell him he actually might get off pretty easy. Are they still picking him up in the van and transporting him? Well, it's different with every state. Iowa isn't as big of a federal presence. So, like, I don't know what they decide. Wisconsin will have to figure out something with the Department of Corrections to extradite you. They'll put a warrant on me. I know that. So you'll be a county, and God knows what they'll do. I mean, they might just give you time.

Who knows? I mean, with all the COVID and everything and the sentencing stuff's gotten easier and easier. Well, that's not happening. George Hartle Road was extradited to Wisconsin back on July 4th, and he's been in the Dane County Jail in Madison ever since. A Department of Corrections spokesperson tells me that the agency has actually served him with papers informing him that they plan to revoke his community supervision, which is parole. That means that George Hartle Road is likely going back to prison. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.