Mexico Expected to Release Man in Case of Mistaken Identity

A former engineering professor from the San Fernando Valley was arrested because he resembles a Canadian tax fugitive, but he is expected to be released by Mexican authorities who now concede they nabbed the wrong guy.

Joseph Francis Goffaux, who was arrested by Mexican agents June 1 at the request of the Canadian government, is expected to be freed by Friday, according to the Mexican judge who ordered his detention.

Goffaux has insisted all along that he is not tax fugitive William Howard Rogers, although the two men are of similar weight, height and age, and both are balding.

“There are look-alikes, I guess,” said Jean-Yves Pinneault of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City. “The wrong person was arrested.”

Pinneault said the Canadian government never “linked this person in custody with Mr. Rogers.”

If that is the case, it remained unclear why Goffaux was arrested in the first place. Pinneault did not return several messages seeking explanation.

“The supposed confusion is due to erroneous data provided by the Canadian Embassy,” said an official at the Mexican attorney general’s office. He did not elaborate.

Rogers owes more than $3 million in back taxes and faces 20 counts of tax evasion.

Goffaux, who had come to Tijuana to pitch his idea for a desalination plant, was arrested as he left the Tijuana offices of a former colleague.

Despite his detention in a small, crowded cell, Goffaux was forgiving of those who arrested him.

“We all make mistakes,” Goffaux said at the Public State Prison in Tijuana. “The Mexican people are beautiful. I love the country.”

Mexican Federal Judge Pablo Jesus Hernandez Moreno said he was awaiting a formal order from the attorney general’s office before requesting Goffaux’s release.