A pedophile who fled a prison work detail in Oregon in 1994 was recaptured in Macon, Georgia, this week, having lived for years under the identity of a child who died in Texas in 1962.

Steven Craig Johnson, 70, was originally incarcerated on three counts of sexual abuse and one count of attempted sodomy. 

A 2019 wanted poster for Johnson from the Oregon Department of Corrections warned that “based on his record, Fugitive Johnson is a pedophile and presents a high probability of victimizing preteen boys. Fugitive Johnson should not be allowed contact with children.”

Johnson was arrested Tuesday. His escape from the prison work crew came on Nov. 29, 1994, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a release.

After that, he lived under the name William Cox for years, obtaining a Social Security number in Texas in 1995 and a Georgia driver’s license in 1998.

His neighbors at the apartment complex where he lived since 2011 were stunned to learn the truth.

“He didn’t, you know, associate with many people. He’d walk and go back to his apartment. He’d get his groceries all delivered like Walmart and stuff. He ain’t ever mingle too much with people. I had no idea. I mean you don’t ever know. I had no idea he’d been escaped for 30 years and a pedophile. It just goes to show. Everybody here is just flabbergasted,” neighbor Larry Crowe told Macon Fox affiliate WGXA-TV.

Johnson was originally imprisoned at the Salem, Oregon, minimum security Mill Creek Correctional Facility, which closed in 2021. He is now in the Bibb County Jail in Georgia awaiting extradition to Oregon.

The U.S. Marshals Service first took on the case in 2015 at the behest of Oregon’s prison officials and finally found Johnson after adopting unspecified new technology this year.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.