16-Year Chase of Parole Violator Ends in O.C. Jail : Crime: A man accused of impersonating an attorney is linked to a long criminal record under a different name.

California parole officer Leonard Hudson has been tracking leads since 1974, searching offices and residences and creating a bulging file of sightings, arrests and disappearances from Hawaii to Canada of the man he calls the “best” he has ever pursued.

But the search may at last be over: The man whom Hudson said Tuesday that he is chasing is locked up at Orange County Jail, held on $100,000 bail.

Based on fingerprint records, Hudson identified him as the same man who is charged with impersonating an attorney and bilking “clients” in Orange County of thousands of dollars.

“I bet there’s not 10 parole agents in the state that have a case this old,” Hudson said. “ . . . I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to find him. “

Hudson is not alone.

Officials with the Orange County district attorney’s office and Hudson said Tuesday that the defendant is also wanted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Calgary on marijuana-trafficking charges.

The defendant, who is being held in Orange County Jail as “John Doe” because of the uncertainty of his real name, will not be released even if does raise bail until Hudson and the state Department of Corrections deal with him, officials said.

The Canadians, officials said, are expected to formally request extradition this week.

The defendant’s court-appointed attorney, Heidi Mueller, did not respond to phone messages left at her office Tuesday afternoon and evening. Her client pleaded not guilty Monday to impersonating an attorney and grand theft.

The defendant had told Harbor Municipal Judge Susanne S. Shaw on July 2 that his name was Christopher Kennedy. On Monday, however, Shaw placed him under oath for the first time and elicited a different response: The man said he did not know his true name.

Clients who say they have been victimized know the defendant as J. Christopher Kennedy, the exact name of a lawyer licensed by the State Bar of California and whose firm has offices in Newport Beach and Los Angeles.

Hudson, who spoke by phone from Salinas, said the state Department of Corrections knows the defendant by a name other than Kennedy.

“We know him to be Jeffery Biddle Smith,” Hudson said. “That’s the name that the department knows him by.”

Hudson said that Smith has been wanted since June, 1974, when he allegedly violated the terms of his parole from state prison where he served time for bouncing checks. Reading from his file, Hudson said Smith has been convicted of grand theft in Solano, San Mateo and Riverside counties. He also served time, Hudson said, for shoplifting in Santa Clara County.

Hudson said he and another agent began pursuing Smith in 1974 after learning that he was operating what they suspected to be a real estate scam in San Jose. By 1982, after tracking him as far as Hawaii, Hudson said he learned that Smith was wanted in Canada, where he had skipped bail on the marijuana charges.

Hudson said that in March, 1988, he discovered that Smith had again eluded the Canadian authorities by fleeing after posting bail of $5,000. An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police declined Tuesday to comment.

“This turkey’s the best,” Hudson said. “. . . If this guy had ever been straight, he’d of been a multimillionaire. People love him.”