Fugitive Sex Offender Captured in Canton After 13 Years on the Run
CANTON, New York (WWNY) – Anthony Lennon, a convicted sex offender and former member of Oklahoma‘s Ten Moast Wanted Fugitives list, was apprehended last Thursday in the parking lot of the Canton Price Chopper. Lennon had been living in the community under the alias justin Phillips for an unknown period.
Lennon was originally convicted of aggravated child pornography in 2008. In 2012, while wanted on multiple counts of possessing child pornography, he staged his own death at a motel where he worked and fled, remaining a fugitive for 13 years.
The break in the case came last week when the U.S. Marshal’s office received a tip. “I’m not going to divulge where that data came from or what it was, but that led us to send a couple of deputy U.S. Marshals to upstate New York,” explained Johnny Kuhlman, U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Oklahoma.
prior to his capture, Lennon had established a life in Canton, working the front desk at the Holiday Inn Express and enrolling in the engineering science programme at SUNY Canton in 2024.
“Many, many individual deputy U.S. Marshals worked on this case for various sightings, various leads, made trips to Nevada, Texas, and Tennessee chasing leads on him,” Kuhlman stated.
Authorities confirmed lennon’s identity through fingerprinting. The New York State Police are currently leading the local inquiry and are analyzing evidence recovered from Lennon’s Canton area home.
“We know what his past is like, but we have no idea what he may have done over the last 13 years,” Kuhlman said. He is urging anyone who knew Lennon, or believes they might potentially be a victim, to contact either the U.S. Marshals or the New York State Police.
Canton Mayor Michael Dalton commented on the situation,stating,”People have had contact wiht him in our community. There’s no doubt he’s been here for whatever length of time. There are people in our community at times that are questionable, and that’s what good police work does: find thes things.”
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