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A convicted sex offender hailed as one of Oklahoma’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives has been captured after allegedly faking his own death and reportedly enrolling in a New York university.
Anthony Lennon was taken into custody last week in Canton, New York, after nearly 13 years on the run, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
In 2008, Lennon was convicted on charges of child pornography and handed a 20-year suspended sentence.
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However, in 2012, authorities began searching for Lennon after learning he was allegedly in possession of additional child pornography, according to officials. Evidence found inside his home reportedly consisted of chat logs, external disks and graphic videos of children, police said.
As authorities closed in on the Super 8 Motel in Moore, Oklahoma, to arrest Lennon on additional charges, they realized that he had “staged an elaborate and bloody abduction and robbery scene, leaving behind falsified evidence to make it appear he had been abducted,” according to officials.
After successfully evading arrest, Lennon remained on the run for 13 years.
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“He went to extremes, and we did determine that the large amount of blood at the staged crime scene actually was his,” Moore Police Chief Todd Gibson said in a news conference, according to People.
While on the run, Lennon allegedly adopted the alias “Justin Phillips,” and was enrolled in college at the State University of New York at Canton at the time of his arrest, NNY360 reported. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Lennon had previously earned a master’s degree in computer science and was working to obtain a doctorate at the time of his disappearance.
Detectives subsequently interviewed Lennon under his alias and used fingerprint analysis to confirm his identity, police said. He was taken into custody in New York and is awaiting extradition to Oklahoma, People reported.
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Authorities are also working to determine if Lennon committed any additional crimes while on the run, according to 7News.
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“This case remains active and under investigation,” the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement. “But with his capture we can now begin the process of holding Lennon accountable for the crimes he committed against children in our community.”
The U.S. Marshals Service did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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