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A man who lived in southern New Mexico for decades under a dead man鈥檚 identity pleaded guilty last week to federal charges for falsifying passport and Social Security documents, identity theft and fleeing the law in Wyoming.

Stephen Craig Campbell, 77, was arrested in February 2025 in the Otero County community of Weed, where he purchased property in 2003 under the name of Walter Lee Coffman 鈥� the identity Campbell had allegedly lived under since 1984.

According to a criminal complaint, Coffman died in 1975 at the age of 22 and was buried in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Coffman and Campbell allegedly were engineering students together at the University of Arkansas, the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office said. Coffman died in an automobile crash shortly after graduating.

Campbell himself was charged with attempted first-degree murder in 1982 and fled while released on bond. He had allegedly planted a bomb at the home of his estranged wife鈥檚 boyfriend which exploded, maiming her and burning the home.

Campbell admitted in a plea agreement to using Coffman鈥檚 identity to apply for, and repeatedly renew, a U.S. passport as well as a Social Security card in 1995, when Campbell was living in Oklahoma, according to the complaint. Investigators alleged Campbell moved to Otero County around 2003 and used the falsified federal I.D. to obtain a New Mexico driver鈥檚 license.

Local authorities grew suspicious in 2019 after Campbell used the federal documents to renew his New Mexico driver鈥檚 license in Cloudcroft. A subsequent investigation turned up the real Coffman鈥檚 obituary and burial details.

Campbell also admitted to collecting retirement benefits in his former classmate鈥檚 name 鈥� raking in $140,000, prosecutors said.

Police arrested Campbell at his remote forest property last year after a brief armed standoff. Fifty-seven firearms were recovered from the residence.

Campbell pleaded guilty to misuse of a passport; possession of false papers to defraud the U.S.; aggravated identity theft; and being a fugitive from justice in possession of a firearm and ammunition. In a news release, the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office said he could face 12 years in prison. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled in September.

With Campbell in federal custody, it was not clear as of Monday whether Wyoming would pursue its attempted murder case against him. As there is no parole in the federal prison system, a prison sentence for Campbell, at his age, could keep him behind bars for the remainder of his life. 

Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.