NEED TO KNOW
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Convicted sex offender Anthony Lennon vanished in 2012 in Oklahoma when police tried to arrest him on child pornography charges, authorities said
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Officers found blood all over a Super 8 motel room where Lennon had been, authorities said
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Lennon was named one of Oklahoma’s Most Wanted Fugitives
A convicted sex offender who was named one of Oklahoma’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and allegedly faked his own death has been apprehended after being on the run for 13 years.
After allegedly staging his own disappearance in 2012, the Moore Police Department in New York and the US Marshals in Oklahoma announced in a statement on Halloween that Anthony Lennon was located and arrested in Canton, N.Y. the day before.
“Mr. Lennon may think he’s a smart person, but he is not as smart as he thinks he is,” Moore Police Chief Todd Gibson said, 7 News and KOCO report.
In 2008, Lennon was convicted in 2008 on charges of aggravated child pornography and received a 20-year suspended sentence.
Then, in 2011, authorities learned that Lennon was allegedly in possession of additional child pornography.
At his home, investigators allegedly found chat logs, a desktop computer and stacks of compact disks containing images of children and infants being violently raped and sexually assaulted, police said in the statement.
He was arrested again and released on a bond.
In March 2012, when police tried to arrest Lennon at the Super 8 Motel in Moore, where he worked, they found no sign of him.
What they did find was blood everywhere.
Lennon had “staged an elaborate and bloody abduction and robbery scene, leaving behind falsified evidence to make it appear he had been abducted,” the statement alleges.
“He went to extremes, and we did determine that the large amount of blood at the staged crime scene actually was his,” Gibson said at the press conference.
“And just like that, Mr. Lennon disappeared,” Johnny Kuhlman, a U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Oklahoma said. “And his whereabouts remained unknown until recently.
Lennon evaded capture for 13 years. But detectives at the Moore Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service in Oklahoma kept investigating and tracked him to Canton under the alias “Justin Phillips,” the statement says.
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Lennon was enrolled at SUNY Canton, allegedly under his fake name. at the time of his arrest, authorities said, NNY360 reports.
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Fingerprint analysis confirmed his true identity, the statement alleges.
Authorities are looking into whether Lennon committed other crimes while he was on the run, 7 News reports.
“Search warrants are being run in New York on devices and residences, and we will see what they reveal to see if future crimes have been committed,” Kuhlman said.
“This case remains active and under investigation,” the statement says. “But with his capture we can now begin the process of holding Lennon accountable for the crimes he committed against children in our community.”
Lennon is being held in New York while he awaits extradition to Oklahoma. It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
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