A man wanted in Florida for sexual battery, who had been living in Alaska since the early 1990s using the identity of his dead stepbrother, was arrested early Friday morning at his Eagle River home, according to a release sent out by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska.
Joseph Keenan May, 60, was arrested by an FBI tactical team Friday. May is charged with unlawful use of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft for his use of his dead stepbrother Michael Camp's identity.
May has been wanted for capital sexual battery in Bradenton, Florida, since 1991, according to the indictment. In Florida, capital sexual battery is defined as sexual battery of someone under 12 years of age by a person 18 or older, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Bradley. Those charges are punishable by death under Florida law.
After he failed to appear in court, a federal warrant for his arrest was issued in 1993, charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, Bradley said.
May moved to Alaska in the early 1990s, living in Eagle River, Fairbanks and Houston, Bradley said. He obtained Camp's Social Security number before arriving in Alaska and had been living under Camp's identity for more than two decades.
May was born in Mississippi and worked as a deputy sheriff in a Florida community from 1988 to 1990, the indictment states.
Camp died as a teenager in the 1970s in Pennsylvania, the release states.
In 2009, May applied for an Alaska driver's license using Camp's Social Security number. In 2013, he applied for unemployment insurance benefits under the same identity.
May faces up to 12 years in prison for two counts of unlawful use of a Social Security number and two additional counts of aggravated identity theft, the release states. He also could face the death penalty in Florida for the sexual battery charge.
May will first be tried in Alaska before being transferred to a Florida federal court for the capital sexual battery charges, Bradley said.
Reach Laurel Andrews at laurel@alaskadispatch.com.
By LAUREL ANDREWS
laurel@alaskadispatch.com