A pedophile who escaped from prison 30 years ago, has been found living in Georgia under a fake identity, which he had stolen from a child who died in Texas in January 1962, the US Marshals Service said in a statement.
Steven Craig Johnson, 70, was using the name "William Cox" and had been living in Macon, Georgia, since 2011. He escaped from Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, Oregon, where he was serving a prison sentence for sexual abuse and sodomy, in November 1994. Johnson was arrested at an apartment building in Macon on July 16, 2024.
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After stealing the identity of a child who had died, Johnson was able to get a Social Security number in Texas in 1995 and a Georgia driver's license in 1998, according to investigators. The US Marshals Service said Johnson was able to get a copy of Cox's birth certificate.
A 2019 bulletin from the Oregon Department of Corrections described Johnson as "a pedophile" who "presents a high probability of victimizing pre-teen boys" and "should not be allowed contact with children."
The Mill Creek Correctional Facility closed on June 30, 2021, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. It was described as "a minimum-security work camp providing AIC labor to the Oregon Department of Corrections, other state and local agencies, and private industries throughout the Willamette Valley."
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One of Johnson's neighbors, Larry Crowe, told WGXA that he "had no idea" that he was living next to a fugitive. Though Johnson didn't "associate with many people" at the apartment complex, Crowe said that everyone was "flabbergasted" to learn that Johnson was actually a pedophile who escaped from prison 30 years ago.
"I didn't even really know his whole name," Crowe admitted, adding that Johnson largely kept to himself and got "his groceries all delivered like Walmart and stuff."
Johnson was booked into a Georgia jail and is awaiting extradition to Oregon, reported KGW8.
