Fugitive who used dead man’s identity for decades in Weed pleads guilty
Stephen Craig Campbell admitted using another man’s identity while hiding in rural Otero County from a Wyoming warrant dating to 1983.
Federal authorities say Stephen Craig Campbell collected about $140,000 in Social Security benefits before agents found 57 firearms at his Otero County home.
Organ Mountain News report
WEED, N.M. - A fugitive who lived in rural Otero County under the identity of a dead Arkansas man for more than four decades has pleaded guilty to federal fraud and firearms charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico announced Monday.
Stephen Craig Campbell, 73, admitted using the identity of Walter Lee Coffman, who died in 1975 at age 22, to obtain passports, a Social Security card, a New Mexico driver’s license and about $140,000 in Social Security retirement benefits, according to federal prosecutors.
Campbell also admitted possessing a loaded rifle while he remained a fugitive from a 1983 Wyoming warrant connected to an attempted first-degree murder charge.
Federal authorities arrested Campbell on Feb. 19, 2025, after a standoff at his home in Weed. Prosecutors said agents found 57 firearms and a large amount of ammunition on the property.
Campbell had been wanted in Wyoming for more than 40 years after he failed to appear in court on the attempted murder charge, prosecutors said. Authorities allege Campbell planted an explosive device at the home of his estranged wife’s boyfriend in 1982. The device exploded when Campbell’s wife opened it, causing her to lose a finger and suffer other injuries, according to prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors said Campbell began using Coffman’s identity by at least 1984, when he applied for a U.S. passport in Coffman’s name while submitting his own photograph and address. He later renewed the passport multiple times.
Organ Mountain News
In 1992, Campbell contacted the Social Security Administration in an effort to remove Coffman’s death record, prosecutors said. Three years later, he obtained a replacement Social Security card in Coffman’s name.
Campbell bought property in Weed under Coffman’s identity around 2003 and continued renewing the fraudulent passport in 2005 and 2015, according to prosecutors.
On Sept. 4, 2019, Campbell used the passport bearing Coffman’s name to renew a New Mexico driver’s license at a Motor Vehicle Division office in Cloudcroft, prosecutors said.
Campbell began receiving Social Security retirement benefits under Coffman’s identity in 2015 and ultimately collected about $140,000, according to prosecutors.
When officers executed a search warrant at Campbell’s Weed residence in February 2025, prosecutors said Campbell was armed and partially concealed. He set down a loaded rifle after officers repeatedly ordered him to do so.
Campbell pleaded guilty to misuse of a passport, possessing false papers to defraud the United States, aggravated identity theft and being a fugitive in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
He faces up to 12 years in prison at sentencing.
The FBI’s Las Cruces Resident Agency and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General investigated the case, with assistance from the Otero County Sheriff’s Office and other federal agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Clara Nevarez Cobos is prosecuting the case.
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