Sex Offender Faked Death, Enrolled in College
(Getty/Daniel Tadevosyan)
A convicted sex offender from Oklahoma who faked his own bloody death more than a decade ago has been found alive and living under a false identity in upstate New York, according to authorities.
Anthony Lennon, 44, was once listed among Oklahoma’s “Ten Most Wanted” fugitives before his arrest last week, state and federal officials confirmed. Lennon was first convicted in 2008 on child pornography charges after a friend discovered roughly 50 gigabytes of illegal images on his computer, NBC News reported. He pleaded guilty in 2010 and received a suspended sentence.
Two years later, while facing a new round of child pornography charges, Lennon vanished from his job at an Oklahoma hotel. Investigators at the time discovered a pool of blood, one of his shoes, and signs suggesting a robbery — but later determined Lennon had staged the scene to fake his own death. He had emptied his bank accounts just before disappearing, according to WWNY.
Over the years, authorities tracked sporadic clues — including activity on his Amazon account in 2020 linked to North Carolina and a possible sighting at a Dallas convention in 2022. Then last week, the U.S. Marshals Service received a tip leading them to Canton, New York, where Lennon was arrested in a Price Chopper parking lot.
Federal court documents reveal Lennon had managed to obtain a new state ID, a fraudulent birth certificate, and even attempted to apply for a passport under an alias. He was living as “Justin Phillips” and had enrolled in the engineering science program at the State University of New York at Canton, beginning classes last fall while living off campus.
His true identity came to light after his fingerprints were taken during the arrest, confirming he was in fact Lennon. The university has since barred him from campus, confirming that the student known as “Justin Phillips” had been taken into custody.
Lennon now faces new charges, including failure to register as a sex offender, as authorities continue to investigate how he managed to evade capture for over 13 years.
About Post Author
