A suspected bomber who was on the US Marshalls’ “Most Wanted” list for more than 40 years was finally busted while trying to renew official documents he’d been using under the name of a long-dead former classmate, according to authorities.
Stephen Craig Campbell, now 76, was arrested in New Mexico on Valentine’s Day — after hiding out on a concealed, elevated spot on his 44-acre New Mexico property with a scoped rifle that was chambered and ready to fire, the US Attorney’s Office of the District of New Mexico announced Wednesday.
He had been wanted since 1983, when he was free on bond despite facing attempted murder charges for allegedly planting a bomb that injured his ex-wife at her new boyfriend’s Wyoming home, blowing off one of her fingers, the feds said.
After skipping court, Campbell managed to hide out by using the name Walter Lee Coffman, one of his University of Arkansas classmates who died in 1975 at the age of 22, the feds now believe.
But his decades-long scheme started to unravel in 2019, when he applied to renew his stolen license — which instead raised red flags over the name, the feds alleged.
An investigation by the National Passport Center’s fraud detection unit eventually discovered his true identity last year, the feds said.
As well as the license, Cambell had used his late classmate’s stolen identity to get a social security number, passports — and a whopping $140,000 in Social Security Benefits, investigators alleged.
The fake name also helped him buy the sprawling property in Weed, New Mexico, where he was finally arrested, the feds alleged.
After initially hiding out withe scoped rifle, Campbell eventually surrendered after multiple law enforcements shouted warnings and threw flash bangs, the feds said.
When recovered, his rifle was loaded with high-powered ammunition capable of piercing standard body armor and ready to fire, with the scope caps flipped open, the selector lever set to fire, and a round chambered, the statement alleged.
He also had 57 firearms and large quantities of ammunition on the property — which were illegal because he is a fugitive, the feds said of the suspect who had been on the Marshalls’ “Most Wanted” list for more the four decades.
Campbell has been charged with misuse of a passport and will remain in custody pending trial, which has not been set, court records indicate.He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on that charge.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office in Green River, Wyoming, has also requested a detainer be placed on him for the initial attempted first-degree murder charges for the 1982 bomb.
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