The guy who told police he changed into a lacking individual Timmothy Pitzen has been charged with lying to federal regulation enforcement retailers after a DNA look at proved his claims had been fake. Brian Michael Rini, 23, changed into charged Friday with making a fake statement or representation to a department or business enterprise of the United States. He is being held in federal custody until formal detention listening to on April nine.
On Wednesday, Rini informed police he become Timothy Pitzen — who went lacking in 2011 at the age of 6 — after he became observed wandering the streets of Newport, Kentucky. Rini claimed that he had been kidnapped and abused for years and currently escaped his male captors, prompting a multistate search for suspects matching the descriptions he gave to police.
Pitzen changed into final visible being checked out from college with the aid of his mother in Aurora, Illinois, in 2011. Days later, his mother became observed dead in an inn room. She left notes mentioning that her son becomes with individuals who would like and contend with him and that he could no way be discovered. According to the crook criticism filed within the Southern District of Ohio, Rini simplest admitted that he became not Pitzen after FBI dealers confronted him with the results of a DNA take a look at.
Soon after being taken into custody via Kentucky police, Rini complained of stomach ache and was taken to the emergency room at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, FBI Task Force Officer Mary Braun wrote within the grievance. While in the clinic, he spoke to Braun and other sellers who check out child trafficking and crimes against youngsters. He advised the FBI that he become Pitzen and that he had recently escaped from a motel room wherein two guys have been maintaining him captive. Rini said that he had been sexually and physically abused for years.
While inside the medical institution on Wednesday, Rini refused to let retailers fingerprint him; however, he consented to a DNA swab. On Thursday, the DNA check, now not handiest, proved that he wasn’t the missing toddler. However, it successfully recognized him as a convicted crook who had lately been launched from an Ohio prison on parole.
Armed with this information, the FBI approached Rini on Thursday and suggested to him his Miranda rights and the penalty for lying to federal retailers before asking him again approximately his identification. Per the criticism, he continued to say that he changed into 14-12 months-old Pitzen and that he was the victim of gross and sexual abuse for years — till he was knowledgeable of the results of his DNA take a look at.
Rini instructed the officers that he had visible a tale approximately Timothy on ABC’s 20/20 and lied about his identity because he desired to break out from his circle of relatives. “When puzzled similarly, Rini stated that he wanted he had a father like Timmothy’s due to the fact if he went missing, his father would simply hold drinking.”
Per the criticism Rini had on previous activities portrayed himself to police as a juvenile intercourse trafficking victim. “False reports like this one may be painful to the families of missing youngsters and also divert law enforcement sources to investigate those untruthful claims,” Herb Stapleton of FBI Cincinnati stated in a press conference Friday. ““Law enforcement takes cheating reviews very severely … And we caution that people making false claims can and could face crook penalties.”
