Oregon fugitive who escaped from work detail in 1994 arrested in Macon

Steven Craig Johnson, also known as "William Cox," was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals around 2 p.m. at an apartment complex located at 2087 Vineville Avenue. Online records show that's the location of Clisby Towers.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – An Oregon fugitive who escaped a work detail nearly 30 years ago was captured in Macon on Tuesday, where he had been living since 2011.

That’s according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.

70-year-old Steven Craig Johnson, also known as “William Cox,” was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals around 2 p.m. at an apartment complex located at 2087 Vineville Avenue. Online records show that’s the location of Clisby Towers.

On November 29, 1994, USMS says Johnson fled from a work detail while serving a state prison sentence in Oregon for sexual abuse and sodomy.

USMS adopted the case in 2015 at the request of the Oregon Department of Corrections, and in 2024, new technology developed by the Diplomatic Security Service developed new leads in the case.

“Further investigation revealed that Johnson had stolen the identity of a child that died in Texas in January 1962,” the release stated.

Johnson obtained a copy of the child’s birth certificate and obtained a social security number in Texas in 1995. He first obtained a Georgia driver’s license in 1998.

An Oregon Department of Corrections wanted poster, published in 2019, said Johnson presented a “high probability of victimizing pre-teen boys” and that he should “not be allowed contact with children.”