Man accused in Green River bombing to plead guilty in identity theft case

A man accused of bombing his ex-wife’s finger off 44 years ago in Green River has announced a plan to plead guilty in a related identity-theft case in New Mexico. Stephen Craig Campbell, 77, made the announcement through his public defender in an April 1 notice to the U.S. District Court for New Mexico. “Campbell… gives notice that he intends to enter into a guilty plea in this matter,” says the one-paragraph filing. It doesn’t specify whether Campbell will plead guilty to the passport fraud charge filed last February or whether the parties plan to supplant it with a different charge in accordance with a plea agreement.

Taken together, the Sweetwater County and federal court documents allege that Campbell sent a bomb to his ex-wife’s new boyfriend’s house in Green River, Wyoming, in 1982. The blast blew off one of her fingers and injured her hand, chest, legs and feet. He later bonded out of jail and stole his dead classmate’s identity as he settled in New Mexico. Federal and local authorities converged on his 44-acre compound in the mountains of New Mexico last February, and Campbell met agents with a high-powered rifle and refused to surrender. When Campbell “finally emerged from the wooded hideout,” authorities took him into custody with no shots fired.

The notice to plead guilty follows a magistrate judge’s January finding that, despite Campbell’s attorney’s earlier concerns over his mental competency, the defendant is competent enough to participate in his prosecution. Sweetwater County Attorney Danny Erramouspe, who has waited years to prosecute Campbell, said he’s “just waiting to see how this goes and for him to come back here.” If there’s no agreement in place to cap it, the passport fraud charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. After Campbell’s sentence, he’d be extradited to Wyoming to stand trial for the bombing. In Wyoming, attempted first-degree murder is punishable by life in prison.

The original affidavit says an explosion happened July 17, 1982, at an apartment in Green River. Sarah Campbell found a package on the front porch of her boyfriend Mike Holder’s home that day and brought it to her apartment. She noticed the package had no postage and had been addressed by her husband. Inside, the parcel was wrapped with a grocery sack turned inside out, which was how Stephen Craig Campbell “invariably wrapped packages.” She noticed a toolbox in the package and tried to open it with her left hand. The latch popped up, and the package exploded. She was hospitalized with injuries, and the home and a neighboring unit both caught fire. The woman was not the intended target of the bomb; Holder was on the phone with her when the package exploded.

An investigation uncovered Campbell’s use of his deceased college classmate Walter Lee Coffman’s identity in New Mexico. Coffman had graduated from the University of Arkansas two months before he died in 1975. University records showed Campbell and Coffman attended the same school and both pursued engineering degrees. Campbell first applied for a passport under Coffman’s name in 1984 and renewed it multiple times, always giving a photograph of himself and his current address. He obtained a replacement Social Security card in Coffman’s name in 1995 using an Oklahoma driver’s license in Coffman’s name. Campbell relocated to Weed, New Mexico, in about 2003, buying land under Coffman’s name and keeping the passport renewed. The scheme began to unravel in September 2019 when Campbell visited the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department to renew his driver’s license. Campbell is now suspected of having received about $140,000 in U.S. government payouts through the Social Security Administration.