UNDATED - A Newfoundland man arrested after being given up for dead in 2006 eluded capture by moving across the country, working as a labourer in Alberta, assuming a different name and donning a wig, says the RCMP officer who worked on his case.
Bruce Leyte, 57, appeared in a Corner Brook, N.L., court Tuesday on charges of fraud over $5,000 and public mischief related to his disappearance more than two years after a suicide note was found in his truck.
Leyte was arrested after a tip from the public about 700 kilometres southwest in St. John's, where police said he'd been living with his girlfriend since January, allegedly under an assumed name.
"It's nice to find him alive," said Const. Duncan Chisholm, a 31-year veteran of the RCMP who's been involved with the case since Leyte went missing.
The legal-aid lawyer representing Leyte said Tuesday he needed more time to prepare before the case proceeds.
Leyte, who has yet to enter a plea, is expected to remain in custody until a bail hearing on Monday. The charges against Leyte are allegations and have not been proven in court.
Chisholm said it's believed Leyte, who went by the name Ray James Richards, spent time working in Alberta's oil capital, Fort McMurray, and in British Columbia, before returning to his home province.
After Leyte disappeared, police say his cellphone was used in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Chisholm said because a body was never found and following reports of sightings -- including one on the ferry between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia -- there was suspicion that he was still out there, somewhere.
"We also had one person that came forth and stated that he was seen on the Marine Atlantic ferry going across, and a person had approached him and said, `Good day. How ya doin', Bruce?' and the man said, `I'm sorry, I'm not Bruce,"' Chisholm recalled in an interview Tuesday.
In June 2006, Leyte -- a director of J.C. Bakery Enterprise Ltd. -- was sentenced to pay a $60,000 fine after being pleading guilty to five charges under the Excise Tax Act.
An investigation revealed that J.C. Bakery made false statements on its sales tax returns in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Leyte was given 60 months to pay that fine, but went missing two months later, around the time the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was conducting a fraud investigation.
His abandoned truck and the suicide note were found Aug. 18, 2006, near the Humber River in the Corner Brook area, prompting an extensive search involving helicopters, the coast guard, ground crews and diving teams.
"It puts our officers at great peril to dive in water like that looking for a body," said Chisholm, adding police also obtained Leyte's dental and medical records.
"It does cause a lot of stress on police officers and also for our limited resources to spend so many man hours looking for somebody when the person's not even, in fact, missing."
Leyte was divorced when he went missing, said Chisholm, who couldn't recall whether a memorial service had been held.
The Mounties allege Leyte assumed his new identity by obtaining an official birth certificate from a government office, which he then used to get a driver's licence.
Police were still trying to determine whether the person Leyte is accused of impersonating is dead or alive.
Chisholm said recognizing Leyte, who appeared without his wig at his court appearance, wasn't difficult.
"When you look at him, if you knew who he was, you wouldn't be mistaken," said Chisholm.
A warrant for Leyte's arrest was issued over the summer by the provincial court in Corner Brook in relation to an alleged tax fraud.
Any charges related to impersonation would come from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, Chisholm said.
