Fugitive Who Stole Dead Man’s Identity for Four Decades Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges
ALBUQUERQUE / Monday, June 1, 2026 – A fugitive who lived for more than 40 years under the stolen identity of a deceased Arkansas man pleaded guilty to federal identity theft, passport fraud, and firearms offenses.
According to court documents, Stephen Craig Campbell, 73, assumed the identity of Walter Lee Coffman, who died in 1975 at the age of 22, just months after graduating from the University of Arkansas with an engineering degree in the early 1980s. Campbell first applied for a U.S. passport in Coffman’s name in 1984 and renewed it multiple times, always submitting his own photograph and current address. In 1995, he obtained a replacement Social Security card in Coffman’s name. Around 2003, he purchased property in Weed, New Mexico, under Coffman’s identity and continued renewing the fraudulent passport in 2005 and 2015.
On September 4, 2019, Campbell knowingly presented a fraudulent U.S. passport bearing the name “Walter Coffman” to a New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division employee in Cloudcroft. He used the passport to renew a New Mexico driver’s license in Coffman’s name, knowing it was not legitimate. He continued to possess the fraudulent passport until it was seized on February 19, 2025.
Campbell also admitted that he knowingly possessed a Social Security card not lawfully issued to him with the intent to defraud the United States. In 1992, he contacted the Social Security Administration in an attempt to remove Coffman’s death record. On October 15, 1995, he fraudulently applied for and received a replacement Social Security card in Coffman’s name. Using this identity, he applied for and received Social Security Title II Retirement Insurance Benefits beginning in 2015, ultimately receiving approximately $140,000 in fraudulent government benefits.
On February 19, 2025, during the execution of a search warrant at his residence in Weed, New Mexico, Campbell was in possession of a loaded rifle. He eventually set the weapon down after repeated commands from law enforcement. A search of the property recovered a total of 57 firearms and a large quantity of ammunition. Campbell acknowledged he was a fugitive from justice at the time and therefore prohibited from possessing firearms.
Campbell has an outstanding 1983 warrant from Wyoming for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Attempted First-Degree Murder. In 1982, he allegedly planted an explosive device at the home of his estranged wife’s boyfriend. The device detonated when his wife opened it, causing her to lose a finger and suffer additional injuries, while also starting a fire that damaged the residence and a neighboring unit.
Campbell was arrested on February 19, 2025, after a standoff in which he was observed armed and partially concealed. He had been on the U.S. Marshals Most Wanted List for over 40 years.
Campbell pleaded guilty to misuse of a passport, possession of false papers to defraud U.S., aggravated identity theft, and being a fugitive from justice in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He faces 12 years in prison at sentencing.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison, Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, and Acting Special Agent in Charge of the SSA OIG Emma Boston made the announcement today.
This case was co-investigated by the Las Cruces Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office and the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General. It was originally initiated by the Diplomatic Security’s El Paso Resident Office and the National Passport Center’s Fraud Prevention Unit. Enforcement assistance was provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, as well as the Otero County Sheriff's Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clara Nevarez Cobos.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico
