CINCINNATI, OH. (THECOUNT) — A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted the Ohio man who is accused of pretending to be missing Illinois boy Timmothy Pitzen, federal officials said on Thursday.
A grand jury indicted Brian Michael Rini, 23, on two counts of making false statements and one count of aggravated identity theft after claiming he was the long lost boy.
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The FBI says the child found in a Kentucky neighborhood is not Timmothy Pitzen.
The Louisville FBI said on Thursday that DNA results showed that the person who claimed he was Pitzen, who was originally identified as a 14-year-old, was not the missing child, but was instead 23-year-old, Brian Michael Rini of Medina, Ohio. According to authorities, Rini had a history of making false reports.
“To be clear, law enforcement has not and will not forget Timmothy, and we hope to one day reunite him with his family,” the FBI Louisville office tweeted. “Unfortunately, that day will not be today.”
Pitzen, the Aurora, Illinois boy who disappeared in 2011 after his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, 43, was found dead by apparent suicide in a Rockford, Illinois hotel room, may be the boy the FBI and local authorities are working to identify.
The child told police he was being held captive in a Red Roof Inn somewhere in the area, but couldn’t say which one, according to Sharonville and Blue Ash police.
WCPO is reporting that they are sending detectives to Cincinnati to investigate a “strong tip” about Timmothy Pitzen, a then-6-year-old Aurora boy who went missing in 2011.
An FBI spokesperson in Louisville said they’re working with Newport police, Cincinnati police, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Aurora, Illinois police on a missing child investigation.
Law enforcement sources close to the investigation said they’re working on positively identifying the boy. The FBI told WCPO that they’re conducting a DNA test to identify the child.
Developing.
Geo quick facts: Cincinnati is a city in Ohio, on the Ohio River. The Over-the-Rhine district is known for its 19th-century architecture, including Findlay Market, which has food and craft vendors. To the north is the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. The Cincinnati Museum Center encompasses history, science and children’s museums in the art deco Union Terminal. Works spanning 6,000 years are on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum – wikipedia.