Mystery man may be fugitive from Canada

RENO - Investigators believe a man jailed here for stealing another man's identity is wanted by Canadian authorities for a murder-for-hire conspiracy 20 years ago.

Investigators still are piecing together the background of William Donald Walton, who has lived in Reno since the id 1980s under the name Roy M. Vasquez.

With the help of federal and international agencies, Reno police identified him as the subject of a 1980 warrant out of Lethbridge, Alberta.

''The defendant was arrested and failed to appear,'' Roy Stralla, Washoe County deputy district attorney, said Friday. ''What we're doing now is finding out facts about that case.''

Authorities in Lethbridge could not immediately recall details of Walton's arrest there 20 years ago.

Reno Justice of the Peace Barbara Finley on Thursday raised Walton's bail to $100,000 after a preliminary hearing and bound him over for trial on a felony charge of using another person's identity.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service also has a no-bail hold on Walton because they have not determined his citizenship, Stralla said.

Under his assumed identity, Walton worked as a deputy constable and was once recognized as ''Deputy Constable of the Month.'' He was also a part-time bailiff at Reno Justice Court and a security supervisor at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.

The real Roy Vasquez is an accountant for the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle.

Vasquez knew someone was using his identity when he was denied a loan because of a debts on purchases he never made. But he got onto the impostor's trail when he received a letter from the IRS earlier this year, asking why he failed to report $30,000 income from his job at the Reno hospital where he never worked.

The impostor was arrested on May 26 and booked into the Washoe County Jail as ''John Doe'' while an international team of investigators tried to find out his real name.

Shortly after his arrest, Walton requested to talk with an Immigration and Naturalization Services agent, Melissa McDonald, who testified Thursday the impostor identified himself as Don Walton.

McDonald said she could not find record of Walton legally being admitted to the United States, but INS records indicate he last lived in Canada.

Investigators are still trying to unravel details of Walton's past, but Pointer said she is reasonably sure they have a correct identification.