Man who stole identity offered probation, asks for prison

Sandra Chereb

Saturday, Dec. 16, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A former hospital security supervisor and deputy constable who hid behind the stolen identity of a Seattle man for more than a decade was offered probation Friday but opted for prison instead.

William McDonald Walton gave no reason why he preferred a jail cell when questioned by Washoe District Judge James Hardesty.

But the judge obliged, sentencing Walton to six years. He will be eligible for parole after serving 12 months.

"The recommendation was for probation," Reno Police Detective Cameron Green said. "However, Mr. Walton asked to be sentenced to prison.

"To this moment, we still don't know what the motivation there was," he said.

Green noted that Walton, who was arrested in May, developed medical problems with his right leg while in jail awaiting trial.

"It was amputated just below the knee within the past three months. He's in a wheelchair," he said.

Walton lived in Reno since the mid- to late-1980s under the name of Roy M. Vasquez.

The real Roy M. Vasquez, an accountant for the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, tracked down his impostor after repeated problems with creditors and the IRS.

"I was just stunned by what this guy had been doing and how long he'd been doing it," Vasquez, 59, said earlier.

For weeks after his arrest, Walton's identity remained a mystery as local investigators worked with the U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Canadian authorities to figure out who he really was.

Walton pleaded guilty in August to using another person's identity for an unlawful purpose, obtaining credit, goods or services or something else of value.

Police now say Walton is a British citizen who immigrated to Canada in the late 1970s and became involved in a business in the town of Lethbridge, Alberta.

There, he allegedly hired two other people to kill his business partner, and in 1978 he was arrested for the unsuccessful plot. Police said he posted bail and fled Canada, leaving behind the family that immigrated with him from Great Britain.

The two men Walton allegedly hired to commit the murder were convicted and served time on the charges while a warrant was pending on Walton, Reno police said.

Walton fled to the United States, remarried, and has used various identities since, authorities said.

In 1995, based on Canadian law, the outstanding warrant went before Canadian courts for review. Due to the length of time the warrant had been outstanding and not served, Canadian courts vacated the warrant a year later, authorities in Reno said.

While living in Reno and using Vasquez' identity, Walton worked as a deputy constable and was once recognized as deputy constable of the month. He was also a part-time justice court bailiff and a security supervisor at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.