THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040253
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: 940604 LENGTH: RALEIGH, N.C.
Baker has had a deputy posted at his home every night since Mike Hartley dropped out of sight, costing taxpayers an estimated $30,000. Baker said Thursday that the deputy will stay until he's sure Hartley will remain in jail.
{REST} Hartley reportedly said last year that Baker - who fired him in a dispute over military duties - was the only person he hated more than his wife.
Hartley, 32, was captured this week in Virginia Beach, said Wake County sheriff's investigators, who announced the arrest Thursday.
He was arrested Sunday after Raleigh police investigators and federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tracked him to a Virginia Beach apartment. He was stopped leaving a 7-Eleven Store.
Last June, Hartley admitted that during the summer of 1992 he had asked a Cumberland County jail inmate to kill his wife. He also admitted trying to kidnap her and trying to break into her house.
After being put on probation, he bought an assault rifle and hired a locksmith to change the locks on his estranged wife's home.
That was the last time investigators saw Hartley until tips led them to Virginia, sheriff's Maj. Danny Bellamy said Thursday.
Federal marshals were expected to return Hartley to Raleigh on Friday or next week to face federal weapons charges. He also will be charged with state probation violations.
Hartley, who was born in Boone, served in the Army reserves for more than 10 years, and was a Wake County sheriff's deputy from September 1989 to February 1991, when he left to serve in the Persian Gulf war.
It was about that time that his marriage fell apart, eventually leading his wife, Beverly, to get a restraining order against him. A court-appointed psychiatrist blamed Hartley's trouble with the law on the unexpected marital problems.
During his year on the run, Hartley telephoned a reporter for The News & Observer of Raleigh several times. He said the case against him was overblown because his wife works for the U.S. Attorney's Office. He also said all he wanted was to see his children and reconcile his marriage.
Sheriff Baker posted guards at his own home after Hartley threatened him. Wake County Manager Richard Stevens estimated that using a deputy guard for seven eight-hour shifts a week - counting salary, benefits and car use - could easily cost $30,000 to $35,000.
by CNB