Man accused of spending 40 years hiding using dead classmate's identity until one error exposed his alleged crimes
Liv Bridge
Featured Image Credit: Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office
A man who is accused of spending more than four decades on the run by allegedly using someone else's identity has recently been caught out after he made one crucial mistake.
Wyoming man, Stephen Craig Campbell, now 76, was arrested in 1982 after he allegedly planted a bomb and injured his 'estranged' wife, according to the Department of Justice.
The fugitive was accused of attempting first-degree murder by leaving the bomb in a toolbox outside her boyfriend's house in Wyoming.
The device detonated when she opened it, severing one of her fingers while the blast set fire to the home and neighbouring property.
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Campbell was arrested and released on bond in 1983, after which he appeared to vanish into thin air.
He never appeared before court and was listed as a target on the US Marshals Most Wanted list.
However, Campbell was finally tracked down in New Mexico as of February 19 this year after officials grew suspicious of his identity.
Court documents have accused the alleged conman of assuming the identity of a former classmate, Walter Lee Coffman, who died in a car crash in 1975 when he was 22, and fraudulently claiming tens of thousands of dollars in government benefits.
The pair had both studied engineering degrees as the University of Arkansas and graduated two months before Coffman died.
The DOJ says this suggests a 'likely connection' between the two.
Records indicate Campbell first applied for a passport in Coffman's name in 1984 and managed to renew it several times throughout the decades that passed by with his own photograph and address.
More than 10 years later in 1995, he secured a new Social Security card in Coffman's name by using an Oklahoma driver's license, again in the name of his former classmate, police say.
In 2003, he allegedly purchased a property in Weed using Coffman's identity and renewed his passport in 2005 and again in 2015.
But the mask started to slip in 2019 when he allegedly presented the swathe of fraudulent documents before the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department in Cloudcroft in a bid to renew his driver's license.
While he was reportedly granted the license, agents from the National Passport Center's Fraud Prevention Unit grew suspicious after discovering records of the real Coffman's death.
An investigation uncovered Campbell's alleged web of sham activity using the dead man's name, which included pocketing $140,000 in Social Security retirement benefits.
After being rumbled, police descended on the apparent fraudster's 44-acre home on February 19, where he allegedly refused to surrender by concealing himself with a rifle.
Officers coaxed him out with flashbang stun devices and FBI investigators uncovered his weapon was loaded and ready to fire high-powered ammunition that can pierce body armour.
Further inspection of his home uncovered 57 firearms and large quantities of ammunition which he is prohibited from owning, the DOJ notes.
SCSO spokesperson Jason Mower said: "Campbell’s wanted poster has been on the wall at our office since I started here nearly 20 years ago. I’ve worked hundreds of fugitive cases, helping track down and capture fugitives all across the country. But never Campbell - every lead went cold, no matter what tools we used. Now, I finally understand why."
Campbell was arrested and charged on suspicion of misusing a passport which could cost him 10 years in prison before standing trial for the 1982 crime.
Law enforcement are also currently evaluating the possibility of additional charges because of the weapons in his home.