
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 21, 1995                   TAG: 9501230039
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALIAS HID TRAFFICKING, INDICTMENT CHARGES

A Christiansburg man has been charged with creating an alias for himself more than a decade ago in order to protect a drug trafficking business.

A federal grand jury in Roanoke returned a seven-count indictment Thursday night alleging that Paul Brent Reynolds - also known as Robert William Allen - ``defrauded'' the United States by assuming a new identity.

The indictment also charged Reynolds' wife, Susan Spencer Edwards, 48, with conspiring to cover up Reynolds' true identity. Both Reynolds, 44, and Edwards were charged with money laundering by using drug profits to purchase property.

The indictment says that Reynolds, a Patrick County native, began his cover-up in August 1982 when he used the name Robert William Allen on his marriage certificate, and that he obtained a Social Security card using the alias in October 1984.

Prosecutors say Reynolds was arrested in West Virginia in June 1986 and sentenced to probation for drug trafficking, but the conviction never showed up on his criminal record because he used the name Allen in court.

The indictment says Reynolds also used the alias to obtain a Virginia driver's license.

``These acts of deceit were undertaken to protect the ongoing illegal drug trafficking business ... and to protect Paul Brent Reynolds from discovery, capture and arrest,'' the indictment says.

Reynolds is not facing any drug charges, and prosecutors declined to speculate on the size of any drug operation.

The indictment says that Patrick Wilson Johnson is a ``drug associate'' of Reynolds'. Johnson, a former Giles County resident, pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to distribute marijuana.

The indictment says Reynolds and Edwards left Christiansburg in the middle of 1994 in an effort to avoid prosecution. In November, Reynolds was charged in a one-count federal indictment with lying about his identity to a federal probation officer.

He was arrested late last year in Florida while trying to obtain another driver's license, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Peters.

Reynolds now is being held without bond at the Roanoke City Jail. Edwards is not in custody.

by CNB