CINCINNATI — A 23-year-old man faces a U.S. magistrate Tuesday on a charge that he lied to federal agents about being a missing child from Illinois.
Authorities on Friday charged Brian Michael Rini, of Medina, Ohio, a day after DNA testing ruled him out as being Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in 2011 at age 6. Magistrate Karen Litkovitz had him held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday afternoon.
Timmothy Pitzen Aurora Police Department via Associated Press
Police picked up Rini on Wednesday morning after a report of someone wandering the streets of Newport, Kentucky. They said that he told them he was Timmothy and that he had escaped two kidnappers after years of sexual abuse.
Police took him to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for treatment and testing. Federal authorities have said they were skeptical, especially after he refused to be fingerprinted, but didn’t want to miss a chance to possibly solve the Pitzen disappearance.
The FBI said DNA testing ruled him out as Timmothy and established his identity as a convicted felon who twice before claimed to be a juvenile sex trafficking victim.
Timmothy vanished around the time of his mother’s suicide. She left a note saying that her son was safe with people who would love and care for him, and added: “You will never find him.”
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