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A student at SUNY Canton, known on campus as Justin Phillips, was arrested at a grocery store in Canton, New York, on Oct. 30. According to NBC News, his ID also listed him as Phillips, but his actual name is Anthony Michael Lennon, which authorities confirmed through fingerprints. Since 2012, Lennon has faced eight counts of child pornography charges in Oklahoma, which he evaded for 13 years. This past July, the state added him to its “Ten Most Wanted” list. Lennon, now 44, was charged over a decade ago after police discovered chat logs, a desktop computer, and stacks of compact discs containing images of children and infants being sexually abused. An investigation was launched after a friend using his computer found 50 gigabytes of child sexual abuse images and alerted authorities. According to CBS 6 Albany, Lennon pleaded guilty to the charges, then faked his own death at a hotel before going on the run. It’s unclear how he ended up in New York and managed to get by under a fake identity. Lennon is currently being held in Syracuse and has a hearing scheduled for Nov. 19. Rashid Aidun, an associate professor at SUNY Canton, who served as Lennon’s academic advisor, told NBC News that “everyone is in shock” regarding Lennon’s arrest. Aidun described the Oklahoma fugitive as a “very good student” who earned all A’s and was in his third semester of a transfer program. Before his disappearance, authorities also learned that Lennon had a master’s degree in computer science and was pursuing a doctorate at the University of Oklahoma in 2008. In a statement, SUNY Canton said Lennon was suspended on Oct. 31 and barred from campus. The university said it knew him only as Justin Phillips, and none of its records indicated a prior identity.
