Fugitive Pedophile Living Under Stolen Identity Captured After Three Decades
A convicted pedophile who fled jail three decades ago has been apprehended, and investigators believe he has been living under the identity of a youngster who died in 1962.
On Tuesday, July 16, law enforcement agents detained 70-year-old Steven Craig Johnson — who has allegedly been living under the name “William Cox” — at a property in Macon, Ga., according to a statement released on Wednesday by the US Marshals Service.
Johnson escaped from the Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, Ore., on November 29, 1994, according to a 2019 bulletin from Oregon officials.
He was serving a sentence for sexual abuse and attempted sodomy at the time, according to the USMS. He escaped the facility while on a prison work detail, and an arrest warrant was issued for him.
Johnson, who Oregon investigators say targeted pre-teen boys, had reportedly been living under the stolen identity of a Texas youngster who died in January 1962, according to the USMS.
Johnson allegedly obtained a copy of the deceased child’s birth certificate and used it to obtain a social security number in Texas in 1995, a year after his escape, according to the USMS. In 1998, Johnson purportedly obtained a driver’s license in Georgia.
Police did not explain how he obtained Cox’s information.
According to a 2019 notice from Oregon officials, Johnson is a “pedophile” who “presents a high probability of victimizing pre-teen boys.”
“Fugitive Johnson should not be allowed contact with children,” said a portion of the alert, which also stated that he was believed to be on his way to Texas at the time.
According to the USMS, Johnson has lived in his Macon apartment since 2011.
Neighbors at the apartment complex were astonished to hear his genuine name, according to Oregon Live.
“He was a very kind guy. “Everyone liked him,” neighbor April Walker told the newspaper.
She observed that Johnson exercised frequently and went for morning walks.
“Everyone called him, ‘Bud,'” neighbor Eddie Rozier told the newspaper.
Johnson was booked into a Georgia jail and is awaiting extradition to Oregon, according to Oregon Live, KOIN, and KGW 8. It was not immediately clear whether he will face any additional charges.