Fugitive Who Faked His Own Kidnapping Captured in Upstate New York

A convicted sex offender from Oklahoma who staged his own disappearance more than ten years ago has been arrested in Upstate New York where investigators say he had been living under a false identity and attending college.

Authorities confirmed that Anthony Lennon, 44, once listed among Oklahoma’s Ten Most Wanted, was taken into custody at the end of October following a joint investigation by U.S. Marshals and New York law enforcement. Officials said fingerprint analysis confirmed his true identity after years on the run.

According to investigators, Lennon faked a bloody kidnapping scene in 2012 to avoid prosecution on additional child-pornography charges. Before disappearing, he allegedly emptied his bank accounts and left misleading evidence of a violent abduction. The elaborate hoax fooled local authorities for months before investigators determined that the scene had been staged.

Court records show Lennon was first convicted in 2010 when police discovered approximately 50 gigabytes of child sexual-abuse material on his computer. In 2012, as investigators uncovered additional evidence, including chat logs, CDs, and other illicit content, he vanished before new charges could be filed.

For nearly a decade, Lennon managed to stay under the radar. Investigators traced sporadic activity tied to him, including an Amazon purchase in North Carolina in 2020 and a possible sighting in Dallas in 2022. Federal filings later revealed that Lennon had obtained fraudulent identification and enrolled at SUNY Canton, where he lived under the alias “Justin Phillips,” studying engineering science and living off campus.

Officials have not disclosed where Lennon is currently detained as state and federal agencies coordinate his extradition back to Oklahoma.

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Fugitive Who Faked His Own Kidnapping Captured in Upstate New York