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MOORE, Okla. (KOCO) - A convicted sex offender who spent 13 years on the run is now in custody. Authorities in Oklahoma discussed on Friday what it took to get the man back behind bars. Anthony Lennon, who formerly lived in the Moore area, went to great lengths to conceal his tracks, according to officials. “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. After a decades-long search, law enforcement tracked and arrested Lennon Thursday night in Canton, New York. “He was eventually identified through fingerprints while using the alias of Justin Philips,” said Johnny Kuhlman, a U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Oklahoma. Law enforcement said Lennon has been in hiding since 2012, when detectives said he faked his own death at a Super 8 motel where he worked. There, officers found puddles of blood. “He went to extremes, and we did determine that the large amount of blood at the staged crime scene actually was his,” Gibson said. Lennon had been sentenced in 2008 to a 20-year suspended sentence for aggravated possession of child pornography. In 2011, a task force discovered he had additional child pornography. Lennon was arrested again, bonded out and then staged an elaborate scene. “And just like that, Mr. Lennon disappeared,” Kuhlman said. “And his whereabouts remained unknown until recently. We recently received some new information and developed a possible location for Lennon in upstate New York. I will not be talking about how that information was developed or what that information was because it could result in additional criminal charges for Mr. Lennon." According to law enforcement, Lennon was now a student enrolled at a local university in Canton. Court documents said he was pursuing a computer science doctorate at the time he disappeared. A reporter asked officials during a press conference if they knew of any crimes Lennon committed while on the run or if they believed he had hurt more children. “Once again, a great question. I can tell you that 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. “Hopefully, now we can sentence Mr. Lennon to prison, and he can be there for the rest of his life because these crimes carry up to life, and there will be no more children harmed by him,” Cleveland County District Attorney Jennifer Austen said. Lennon is still in custody in New York and will eventually return to Oklahoma to face a new federal charge.
