For decades, the man lived as Walter Lee Coffman, using his Social Security number, obtaining a driver's license and passport, purchasing property, and earning more than $100,000 in cash in government retirement benefits, Justice Department officials said.
The reality is that he used the identity of another man who had been dead for nearly 50 years, authorities said after he went to LAM because he was facing an attempted murder charge in Wyoming.
The escape from the law ended last month, authorities said several law enforcement agencies accused him of misuse of a passport on his property in Weed, New Mexico, after arrested man Stephen Craig Campbell, authorities announced Wednesday.
The US law firm in New Mexico has accused Campbell, 76, of the identity of Coffman, a University of Arkansas graduate who passed away in 1975 at the age of 22.
University records show that both Campbell and Coffman are university students and “pursuing engineering degrees and suggesting possible connections between the two,” according to the Justice Department.
Speaking to local Arkansas news media, Coffman's family said he was shocked to learn that his identity had been stolen. Coffman's aunt Sharon Ennis told the news on 40/29 that Campbell “advertised” the nephew's “good name.” She also shared that after visiting her fiancée, Coffman died in a car accident on the way home.
Campbell's lawyer David Benatal said his client “is presumed innocent, so the court should finish the process before jumping to conclusions.”
According to court documents, Campbell, who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, appears to have disappeared after failing to appear in court in 1983 to face charges of attempted murder in connection with the 1982 Wyoming bombing.
In 1982 he was accused of planting a toolbox containing an explosive device at the doorway of his estranged wife's boyfriend in Wyoming. She opened the toolbox and the bomb exploded, and according to court documents she lost her finger. The explosion also burned the apartment complex and adjacent units.
Campbell was released on bonds after being arrested by the Rock Springs Police Department in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Authorities issued a warrant to Campbell after he did not appear until the court date.
Campbell first applied for a passport in 1984 in Coffman's name. “We're launching a long pattern of fraud that lasts decades,” according to court records.
After moving to NM Weeds in 2003, Campbell purchased the property in Coffman's name, authorities said.
Campbell's cover began to collapse in September 2019 when he renewed his driver's license in New Mexico, federal prosecutors said.
At the time, Campbell presented Coffman's date of birth, named “Walter L. Coffman,” as well as a previously issued license, including the NM Weed address, as well as a Social Security card in Coffman's name and a US passport.
Record searches resulting from license applications showed that Walter Liekoffman had been dead since 1975.
Following the investigation, authorities obtained a warrant to arrest and search for 44 acres of New Mexico property registered in Coffman's name.
Prosecutors said when officers went to execute the warrant on February 19, Campbell “greeted law enforcement agencies armed with scoped rifles and placed themselves in a partially hidden place where they had been promoted.”
Officers deployed stun grenades and tried to attract Campbell. Campbell was “still hidden, but later emerged from the wooden line after repeated orders,” authorities said.
Authorities later discovered that Campbell's rifle was “loaded and ready to fire.” According to court records, “The weapons were particularly dangerous due to high-power ammunition that could stab standard body armor.”
The prosecutor's office said 57 firearms and a large amount of ammunition had been found on the property.
Campbell, held at the Doñaana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, was considered a flight risk by the US District Court in New Mexico, according to court records. He will continue to be detained regardless of the trial.
After his arrest, the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office in Green River, Wyoming, requested that Campbell be placed in detention in connection with the 1982 murder attempt.
Jack Begg contributed his research.
