John Hartley

"Hartley! Special Agent Hartley! Hartley! Did you hear me ask for more time in there?!"

- Art Jeffries , infuriated with Hartley over James Halstrom's death. May 26, 1998.

John Hartley is an FBI special agent and A-SAC of the Bureau's Richmond, Virginia field office. On May 26, 1998, Hartley, while on a tour of the Minneapolis field office's "resident agency", or satellite office, in Rapid City, South Dakota, was sent to the small town of Sturgis after being informed of the ongoing hostage crisis there, in order to take command of the FBI forces gathering around the Sturgis town bank. Flown by helicopter, Hartley arrived an hour later, just as Edgar Halstrom, the leader of the hostage takers and of a South Dakota anti-government militia group released three of the eleven townspeople. This was only accomplished through the persistent negotiations of Agent Charles Blackwell, who had been in initial command of the FBI forces that responded to the situation. But, when Hartley arrived, things took a turn for the worse when, after multiple attempts by Blackwell to contact the group inside the bank - including undercover Special Agent Art Jeffries - appeared to fail and a three minute deadline Hartley gave Blackwell for contact expired. At this point, Hartley ordered the SWAT team, led by Francis Blake, to storm the bank, which resulted in the deaths of those inside, with the exception of Jeffries and the remaining eight hostages. Not ten minutes later, as the SWAT team safely cleared the hostages, Jeffries stormed out of the bank - furious after the death of James Halstrom - and proceeded to rough up Hartley as he was contacting the office in Rapid City of developments and successful conclusion of the operation. Jeffries' hands smeared James Halstrom's blood across Hartley's collar as he held a gun to Hartley's face, blinded by rage at James' death. Jeffries then struck Hartley in the jaw - knocking him back into a nearby SUV and breaking several of his teeth - before spitting at his feet in obvious disgust and stalking away.