Ore. man accused of assuming murdered Ohio boy’s identity refuses to reveal true name in court

Still no mystery man ID in Ore. court appearance

PORTLAND, Ore. — A man accused of assuming the identity of a murdered Ohio boy refused to reveal his true name in his latest court appearance Thursday, leading a federal prosecutor to argue there’s “a very serious reason why he’s hiding it.”

The Oregon man — who had claimed his name is Jason Robert Evers, a 3-year-old boy kidnapped and murdered in Cincinnati in 1982 — made an initial appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland following his extradition from Idaho.

Listed as John Doe in court documents, the man was arrested last month in Idaho on a charge of providing false information on a passport application.

“At this point in time the government does not know who this person is,” said Stacie Beckerman, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case.

The man’s attorney said one reason he has given for not disclosing his true name is safety, but she declined to elaborate.

For the last eight years, he worked as an Oregon Liquor Control Commission investigator, going through a state police background check that turned up nothing to stop him from being hired. His attorney said he has been placed on administrative leave from the OLCC pending the outcome of his case.

Susan Russell, the federal public defender assigned as his lawyer, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Hubel that federal prosecutors agreed there was no link to the murdered boy and “it was simply a name that was available publicly.”

Russell asked that man be released for home detention with electronic monitoring at his house near Bend, citing his community ties to Central Oregon, where he has worked for the state for years.

Beckerman, who raised concerns as to why the man is hiding his identity, requested that he be held in jail as a flight risk.

The judge agreed to hold him until the court could resolve questions about whether the man’s refusal to reveal his true identity could lead to potential violations of the law while he is awaiting trial, such as driving with a license obtained with a false name or paying bills that could amount to fraud.

Beckerman argued that avoiding potential violations would be impossible because “his entire existence right now is fraudulent.”

She said he has already caused problems for the liquor commission because he was falsely sworn as a law enforcement officer.

Beckerman said the case is being investigated by the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service because it began with the passport application charge.

She said after the court hearing that the agency is using “every investigative resource” but efforts to match the man’s fingerprints have been unsuccessful so far.

Russell said the man has led “an otherwise law-abiding life” and moved to Oregon from Colorado to be near a woman Russell described as his “surrogate grandmother.”

Several fellow OLCC workers, some friends and his fiancee were in court for a show of support, but most declined to comment after the brief hearing.

Steve Sander of the OLCC said he could not speak on behalf of the liquor agency but he and the others could show their personal support.

“We care about the guy,” Sander said. “We’d like to know the real story too.”

Tracey Weidner, a former OLCC investigator who now does contract work for the federal government, said after the hearing she worked with the accused man for three years at the liquor agency.

When asked whether she was concerned he may be hiding something illegal or sinister in his past, she replied “that would be completely out of character.”

She described the man who claims to be Jason Evers as “a stellar man” who was an excellent investigator.

“I backed up every report he wrote,” Weidner said.

But she said he has not told friends or co-workers about his past.

The case was headed to a federal grand jury with arraignment set for June 14 at 1:30 p.m.