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Valley Junction teens devastated a man they considered a friend is a fugitive convicted of rape

George Hartleroad was convicted of rape in Wisconsin in 1983. He escaped from a halfway house in 1994.

KCCI logoUpdated: 11:32 AM CDT Jul 7, 2024

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Pepper Purpura

Reporter/Multimedia Journalist

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa —

A game of poker cemented Troy Hall's friendship with the man who lived in the woods. Teenagers looking for ways to pass their downtime had dubbed the stranger sleeping amongst the trees by the railroad tracks as "Homeless Greg."

He earned the honor of a nickname from Valley Junction's youth by befriending the teenagers passing through his encampment. Decades of youth from the area, especially at a nearby alternative school, found a cure to their boredom by visiting "Homeless Greg" after school.

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Though he knew befriending "a homeless guy hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers" as Hall stated, may not seem wise, Greg defied the warnings that adults had ingrained into Hall of "stranger danger" because, to the teens he knew, Greg was no stranger. Friends of friends had been taking one another to meet the bearded man in the woods for years, only to be greeted each time by hospitality.

"He was just a live off the land, easy come, easy go, kind of guy," Hall said. "He was funny, very calm and inviting. He was nice to everybody."

Simply being "nice" was enough to also draw Alex Colby and Amber Casey to his campfire.

Both girls recall Greg's friendly nature, paired with a sense of responsibility for the well-being for his visitors.

"Some of us didn't grow up with the best housing and families, so having somewhere we could get away was pretty much like the best thing ever," Colby said. "If we just needed to get away for the night, we could always come down here. He always made sure that we were pretty much safe."

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But the man whom Case, Colby and Hall spent years forming fast friendships with in their youth was not genuine with any of the teens in his company.

Greg is actually George Hartleroad, a fugitive from Wisconsin convicted of rape in 1983. He served 5 years in prison before he escaped a halfway house in 1994.

On June 26, court records show West Des Moines Police arrested Hartleroad after an officer stopped him for not having a rear reflector on his bike. When officers ran his name, they realized he was wanted in Wisconsin.

After learning the truth, Case, Colby and Hall are reconsidering the once fond memories they had with Hartleroad, puzzled about what to make of them.

"We were hanging out with a most wanted rapist from Wisconsin, and his name's not even Greg," Hall said.

The truth is especially difficult for Case and Colby, who say they are also both victims of sexual violence.

"It feels like the relationship alone was built on lies and it kind of just shakes you to the core," Case said. "Never in my life did I think that somebody as caring as he was to us could have been that type of person, had I known I probably would have never been back there."

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