For decades, a man lived as Walter Lee Coffman, using his Social Security number, obtaining a driver’s license and passports, purchasing property and even cashing more than $100,000 in government retirement benefits, Justice Department officials said.
In reality, he was using the identity of another man who had been dead for close to 50 years, the authorities said, after going on the lam because he was facing attempted murder charges in Wyoming.
The run from the law ended last month, the authorities said, after multiple law enforcement agencies arrested the man, Stephen Craig Campbell, at his property in Weed, N.M. They charged him with misuse of a passport, officials announced on Wednesday.
The U.S. attorney’s office in New Mexico accused Mr. Campbell, 76, of assuming the identity of Mr. Coffman, a University of Arkansas graduate who died in 1975 when he was 22 years old.
University records show that Mr. Campbell and Mr. Coffman were both students at the university at the same time where they “pursued engineering degrees, suggesting a likely connection between the two,” according to the Justice Department.
Speaking to local news media in Arkansas, Mr. Coffman’s family said they were shocked to learn that his identity was stolen. Mr. Coffman’s aunt, Sharon Ennis, told 40/29 News that Mr. Campbell “desecrated” her nephew’s “good name.” She also shared that Mr. Coffman died in a car crash on his way home after visiting his fiancée.
David Benatar, a lawyer for Mr. Campbell said that his client is “presumed innocent, and we should let the court process reach its end before jumping to any conclusions.”
Mr. Campbell, who graduated with an electrical engineering degree, had seemingly disappeared in 1983 when he failed to appear in court to face charges of first-degree attempted murder in connection with a 1982 Wyoming bombing, according to court documents.
In 1982, he was accused of planting a toolbox containing an explosive device at the doorstep of his estranged wife’s boyfriend in Wyoming. She opened the toolbox and the bomb exploded, causing her to lose a finger, according to court documents. The explosion also set the condominium and a neighboring unit on fire.
After his arrest by the Rock Springs Police Department, in Rock Springs, Wyo., Mr. Campbell was released on bond. The authorities issued a warrant for Mr. Campbell after he did not show up to his court date.
Mr. Campbell first applied for a passport under Mr. Coffman’s name in 1984, “starting a long pattern of fraud that spanned decades,” according to court records, which also said that he later obtained a replacement Social Security card in Mr. Coffman’s name in 1995, using an Oklahoma driver’s license in Mr. Coffman’s name.
After moving to Weed, N.M., in 2003, Mr. Campbell bought property under Mr. Coffman’s name, the authorities said.
Mr. Campbell’s cover began to fall apart in September 2019 when he renewed his driver’s license in New Mexico, according to federal prosecutors.
At the time, Mr. Campbell presented a previously issued license bearing the name “Walter L. Coffman,” Mr. Coffman’s birth date, and an address in Weed, N.M., as well as a Social Security card and a U.S. passport, both in Mr. Coffman’s name, according to court documents.
Record searches stemming from the license application showed that Walter Lee Coffman had been dead since 1975.
Following an investigation, the authorities obtained warrants to arrest Mr. Campbell and search a 44-acre property in New Mexico that is registered under Mr. Coffman’s name.
When officers went to carry out the warrants on Feb. 19, Mr. Campbell “greeted law enforcement armed with a scoped rifle, positioning himself in an elevated, partially concealed spot,” according to prosecutors.
The officers deployed stun grenades and tried to engage Mr. Campbell, who “remained hidden but later emerged from the wood line after repeated orders” and was detained, the authorities said.
The authorities later found that Mr. Campbell’s rifle was “loaded and ready to fire.” According to court records, “the weapon was especially dangerous because of the high-powered ammunition it fires which is capable of piercing standard body armor.”
The prosecutor’s office said that 57 firearms and large quantities of ammunition were found on the property.
Mr. Campbell, who is being held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, N.M., was deemed a flight risk by the U.S. District Court in New Mexico, according to court records. He will remain in custody pending trial.
After his arrest, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office in Green River, Wyo., requested a detainer be placed on Mr. Campbell in connection with the 1982 attempted murder case.
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