Man charged with identity fraud

May 19, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore.

An Oregon man who purportedly uses the name of a boy murdered in 1982 in Ohio will have to stay in jail a while longer after being charged with identity fraud.

A judge on Monday had ordered the release of the man, who claims to be Jason Robert Evers, to home detention in Bend with electronic monitoring.

But federal prosecutors won a 24-hour delay to challenge the release. They told another judge Tuesday that authorities in Ohio were charging the man, who refuses to provide his true name.

Joseph T. Deters, prosecuting attorney for Hamilton County, Ohio, said the Oregon man was charged with felony identity fraud.

“We are going to find out who this guy is,” Deters said. “And we will find out why he stole this beautiful little boy’s name.”

Attorney Susan Russell, who represents the man in Oregon, asked U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty for another day to consider the Ohio charges before another release hearing is scheduled.

The man also is facing a federal charge of making a false statement on a passport application.

Russell also said she wanted to make clear the man claiming to be Evers had no connection to the boy’s death. Another man was convicted of the murder and sent to prison.

Russell’s comments came after Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacie Beckerman told the judge the father of the dead child had urged the court to keep the man claiming to be Evers in custody.

The man claiming to be Evers had worked as an Oregon Liquor Control Commission investigator for the past eight years after moving to the state from Colorado. He is on administrative leave pending the outcome of his case.

He has a house in Bend, where Russell had argued he could remain until his June 14 arraignment and pending a federal grand-jury hearing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Ashmanskas had approved the home detention, but prosecutors filed an appeal that was sent to Judge Haggerty for a ruling.

The man was arrested in Idaho by the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. State Department after a passport application check showed the identity belonged to the Ohio boy.