All that ended this week when authorities discovered he was really Mexican national Rafael Mora-Lopez, who was in the U.S. illegally and stole another man's identity, officials charged.
'His reputation here is one of a hard-working officer, one who was very professional,' Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew said Friday at a news conference announcing Mora-Lopez's arrest. 'The problem, obviously, is he is not Rafael Espinoza.'
Soon after the announcement, Mora-Lopez appeared in U.S. District Court in Anchorage and pleaded not guilty to a charge of passport fraud, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence. At his arraignment, Mora-Lopez told a federal magistrate he is 47, even though officials listed his age as 51.
