STOCKTON, Calif. (KOVR) - A California man is accused of using his dead university classmate’s identity to evade authorities and claim government benefits for years.

After 40 years on the run, Stephen Craig Campbell was recently apprehended in New Mexico.

“To think that this man would come in there and desecrate his name is really hard to take,” the victim’s aunt, Sharon Ennis, said.

The person whose identify Campbell has been using all these years was Walter Coffman.

Authorities said Campbell had been living his life under Coffman’s name for four decades.

U.S. Marshals said the two men were both students at the University of Arkansas pursuing engineering degrees.

However, Campbell’s family said he died two months after graduation in a car crash in 1975.

Nearly a decade later, Campbell first applied for a passport under Coffman’s name. He followed that up with a replacement Social Security card and then an Oklahoma driver’s license.

In the middle of his double life, Campbell landed on the U.S. Marshals' Most Wanted List – a fugitive charged with attempted murder.

Campbell allegedly planted a bomb at the door of his estranged wife’s boyfriend in Wyoming in 1982. He got out on bond and didn’t land back on the radar until 2019.

Campbell was flagged by the National Passport Center’s Fraud Prevention Unit.

Campbell was arrested with dozens of firearms and ammunition in New Mexico this month.

Coffman’s aunt says her nephew’s legacy can’t be stolen.

“It’s quite a shock to know that this has been going on for four decades, and if this can happen to us, it can happen to anybody,” Ennis said.

Investigators believe Campbell collected $140,000 in Social Security benefits under Coffman’s name.

If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

The sheriff’s office in Wyoming is also looking to pursue the attempted murder charges against him.