Thread: Feds: Convicted killer isn't who he says he is

Feds: Convicted killer isn't who he says he is


By:Scott McCabe04/21/11 8:05 PM
Examiner Staff Writer

A man who admitted his guilt in a stabbing death outside a Manassas pizza joint isn't who he said he is, authorities claim.
It turns out the convicted killer is a 40-year-old illegal immigrant from Puerto Rico named Frank Alexis Reyna, according to court documents.

Reyna, who was convicted on involuntary manslaughter charges earlier this year under the identity of 37-year-old Edgardo Aquino Castro, had been treated by the authorities as a United States citizen. At his sentencing last month, he was sentenced to time-served -- a year -- and ordered to be released.

According to court documents, Immigration officials have discovered his true identity and arrested him Wednesday on a charge of falsely representing himself to be a U.S. citizen. He faces a maximum of three years in prison if convicted, and could be deported after serving his sentence.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Cori Bassett said she could not comment on the case because it's an ongoing investigation.

The bizarre case began shortly after midnight on Aug. 31, 2008, when 24-year-old Carlos Abelardo Escalante was fatally stabbed outside Mike's Subs and Pizza. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for first-degree murder and began a multistate manhunt for the man they believed to be named Castro. He was arrested in New York in January 2010.

In January, he entered into an Alford plea on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. An Alford plea means the defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges that the prosecutors have enough evidence to convict.

According to the Manassas Journal Messenger, defense attorney Barry Zweig said he agreed to the plea deal because his client was an "Hispanic man taking a guilty plea because he recognizes the prejudice that exists in this country."

On March 17, Prince William Circuit Judge Craig D. Johnston sentenced him to 10 years in prison with nine years suspended and got credit for the time he already served. He was ordered released.

According to charging documents filed in federal court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers interviewed "Castro" on March 23 and took his fingerprints.

The prints were submitted to the FBI, which determined that the man was really Frank A. Castillo Reyna.

A federal judge ordered him held without bond.

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Go for pizza and end up stabbed to death by an illegal alien.