International probe seeks to identify mysterious man of many names

Sandra Chereb

Friday, June 2, 2000 | 3:25 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - No one had reason to suspect Roy Vasquez was anyone other than who he said he was. That is, until the REAL Roy Vasquez of Seattle started receiving threats from collection agencies for unpaid bills.

Now, the mysterious impostor is jailed in Reno and a global network of investigators from Interpol to the U.S. State Department is trying to figure out, "Who IS this guy?"

So far they've determined he attended a law enforcement academy, worked as a hospital security supervisor, a part-time bailiff and was even honored as deputy constable of the month. But each turn of the case yields more questions than answers.

"He's definitely trying to hide and we just don't know why yet," said Reno Police Sgt. Todd Shipley.

The fake Vasquez isn't saying. He was booked into the Washoe County Jail on May 26 as "John Doe."

"This is probably the most fascinating identity theft case I've ever worked," Reno Detective Patsy Pointer said. "It's kind of scary what he was able to do."

Pointer said the one-time hospital security commander admitted having a checkered past.

"Basically, he said, 'I have done something and when you find out who I am I'll sit down and talk to you,"' Pointer said. "He's going to make us work for it."

Meanwhile, the real Roy Vasquez, who works for the King County Sheriff's Department in Seattle, is trying to straighten out his credit history.

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 a Reno hospital where he never worked.

The law enforcement work detail includes Interpol, the FBI, Secret Service, the IRS, Immigration and Naturalization Service, the State Department, Reno and Sparks police departments and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, Pointer said.

The mystery man charged with felony false identity is being held without bail on an immigration hold until authorities figure out who he is. He also faces charges of forgery and uttering a forged instrument for signing a phony name - Roy Vasquez - while being processed into jail and on other officials documents.

A search of his southwest Reno home provided few answers, opening instead a Pandora's box of questions.

Authorities say John Doe:

- Is not a U.S. citizen and may be Australian or British. Authorities found a driver's license from Great Britain, under the name of David Norman Walton. They also think his father may have been a British "bobby," based on a photograph.

- May have ties to South Africa, Mexico and Canada.

- Has been in the Reno area since at least the 1980s and worked as a deputy constable in Sparks and Incline Village, where he once received a certificate as "Deputy Constable of the Month." No one in the constable's office, however, seems to remember him.

- Worked as a part-time bailiff at Reno Justice Court. Officials there couldn't recall him either, but Pointer said county records show he last pulled a shift on May 13.

- Was a security supervisor at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, where he worked for five years. He was fired this week for failing to call or show up for work three days in a row when he was in jail.

- Used his pseudo law enforcement connections to access databases for a "skip tracer" business, tracking down people for debt collection or civil process for private companies.

- Conducted numerous other businesses, legitimate or otherwise, on the Internet presuming to sell militia-type publications and goods. Authorities have traced some of those Internet dealings to California, Nevada, Idaho, Texas, and Iowa.

"He had so many things going," Pointer said. "We don't know if there are additional victims as a result of that."

Though Vasquez was the name most used by John Doe, Shipley said authorities found documents for about a dozen other identities.

A marriage certificate authorities believe is real shows David Norman Walton - the same name on the British driver's license - married Regina Linda Ariz in Bothell, Wash., on March 10, 1984.

Regina Ariz is thought to be his wife. She suffered a heart attack last week just before authorities closed in on John Doe (he was arrested at the hospital) and has not yet been questioned.

John Doe also may have posed as a preacher, based on documents including a certified copy of a birth certificate, for a Rev. Sterling Smith, born in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Smith later lived in Chewelah, Wash., according to an entry document issued through the Mexican consulate in Seattle.

Police hope an international check of fingerprints and passport records will shed some light on his real identity and what he's hiding from.

In the meantime, Pointer and Shipley will trudge through the mountain of evidence seized from his home looking for clues.

"And we've only gone through about one-tenth of this stuff," Shipley said.

archive