Gave Fake ID to the Police for a Minor Offense

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California

22 years ago (I was an adult) I was arrested for a minor vandalism charge (misdemeanor) in CA, and I provided a false identity (yes, very stupid) - the false identity was a fake ID I had at the time for getting into bars. I had a public defender represent me in absentia (I didn't live near the county of the crime), and my understanding was he arranged a plea deal where if I paid restitution (about $500) the charges would be dropped (there weren't any witnesses) - I could be wrong on the last point and it may have been a no contest plea. I paid the restitution and never thought about it again until very recently when an employer background check turned up two identities associated with my fingerprints. Big problem, and I am totally convoluted as to where to begin to deal with this, and have several questions:

1. Has the statute of limitations expired on the crime of providing false information and/or having the fake ID? If I attempted to come clean and have the charges moved over to my real ID would I face additional charges? (Other than one other misdemeanor for getting in a fight 2 years after that incident, or 20 years ago, I have no criminal record)

2. How would one even begin to initiate fixing this mess, doesn't seem like calling/walking into the police station is the first step. And no, I don't really have the resources to hire a big time lawyer to make this go away (hence the background check - trying to find a job).

3. Since this was so long ago, could I get it expunged from my record (I imagine this would be tied to whether new charges were brought?). I imagine trying to expunge the incident from the fake ID is begging for more problems.

Thanks for your help.

You provided an alias and were booked into the system with fingerprints under the alias. That has nothing to do with the charge being dismissed or not. You will be an AKA for life. Hopefully you picked a nice second name.

In the criminal justice system, one's identity is a number assigned to arrestees, not a name. That number is associated with your fingerprints. One can use a different name for every arrest but as you have discovered, that is not an effective method of trying to hide the truth.

While I imagine the SOL has passed for using a fake ID, I doubt the authorities are going be very interested in expunging or "fixing" your known history of lying about you true identity when you come into contact with the criminal justice system