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He escaped from an Oregon prison in 1994. Police have just found him in Georgia.

Posted on by angelo
He escaped from an Oregon prison in 1994. Police have just found him in Georgia.

Georgia authorities have arrested an Oregon man who escaped from a correctional facility nearly 30 years ago.

Steven Craig Johnson, 70, escaped from Mill Creek Prison in Salem, Oregon, in November 1994. He was serving a sentence for sexual abuse and attempted sodomy, according to a flier distributed by the Oregon Department of Corrections.

The leaflet said the man had a “high probability of victimizing pre-adolescent boys” and should “not be allowed to have contact with children.”

Johnson, also known as “William Cox,” was arrested around 2 p.m. Tuesday by the U.S. Marshals Service at an apartment complex in Macon, Georgia, WMGT reported.

Steven Johnson, 70, was recently arrested in Georgia after more than 30 years on the run.
Steven Johnson, 70, was recently arrested in Georgia after more than 30 years on the run. (Oregon Department of Corrections)
He was wanted in Oregon after escaping from prison in 1994.
He was wanted in Oregon after escaping from prison in 1994. (Oregon Department of Corrections)

The Marshals Service took over the case in 2015 at the request of the Oregon Department of Corrections. In 2024, the agency used new technology developed by the Diplomatic Security Service that provided new leads in the case.

Authorities said that while on the run, Johnson stole the identity of a child who died in Texas in January 1962. Johnson obtained a copy of the child’s birth certificate and was able to obtain a Texas Social Security number in 1995.

He obtained a Georgia driver’s license three years later. In 2011, he became a resident of Macon, living under the name William Cox.

Johnson is currently awaiting extradition to Oregon. He is being held at the Bibb County Jail.