After being on the run for almost 30 years, a fugitive was apprehended last week in central Georgia, according to the authorities. The U.S. Marshals Service claims that in 1994, the man broke free from an Oregon prison and took the identity of a youngster who had passed away in Texas decades ago.
According to a press release from the Marshals Service, Steven Craig Johnson was apprehended on Tuesday at approximately 2:00 p.m. by members of a regional task team in Macon, Georgia. Johnson, who is now 70 years old, has been going by the identity William Cox since 2011.
On November 29, 1994, while serving a state term for sodomy and sexual abuse, he escaped from a prison work crew in Oregon. More precisely, according to CBS station KOIN-TV, he was found guilty on three counts of first-degree sex abuse and one count of first-degree attempted sodomy.
According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, Johnson had been completing his sentence at the Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, which is located roughly midway between Portland and Eugene.
According to the agency, the Mill Creek institution was a minimum security jail situated on an unfenced tract spanning around 2,000 acres, only a few miles outside of Salem. The facility held about 290 prisoners who were within four years of release until it closed in 2021.
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Johnson had an outstanding arrest warrant due to his escape from Oregon, where he has been on the state’s most wanted list for several years. Texas was mentioned as a possible escape destination for Johnson on a wanted poster published by the Oregon Department of Corrections; however, the authorities did not provide any information regarding Johnson’s possible link to Texas.
Johnson is described on the poster as “a pedophile and presents a high probability of victimizing pre-teen boys.” The statement said he “should not be allowed contact with children.”
According to the Marshals Service, the Oregon Department of Corrections requested that the agency take up Johnson’s runaway case in 2015.
The agency claimed that “new investigative technology employed by the Diplomatic Security Service” ultimately contributed to the development of significant leads in 2024, after nine years of searching for him.
The investigation found that Johnson had not only taken on a false identity but had also stolen a child’s identity in order to get out of jail.
The Marshals Service reported that the infant passed away in Texas in January 1962. Johnson promptly secured a Social Security number in Texas in 1995 after obtaining a copy of the child’s birth certificate. Johnson’s Georgia driver’s license was first recorded in 1998.
Johnson was checked into the Bibb County Jail in Macon after his arrest in Georgia. His extradition to Oregon is currently pending.
