18-year-old Julian Tiberius Hernandez has been found 13 years after his mother reported his disappearance from their Birmingham, Alabama home.
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Julian Hernandez, a high school senior in Cleveland where he has lived with his father since 2002, released a statement today amid recent revelations that he isn’t who he thought, a discovery made when he started the college application process.
CINCINNATI (AP) – Two men from the New York City area who were stopped yesterday for an alleged traffic violation on Interstate 74 in southwest Ohio will face more serious charges, after police arrested them for carrying counterfeit tickets for two pro football games.
When Julian, now 18, began applying to colleges, he learned the Social Security number that his father gave him could not be verified.
Julian’s father, Bobby Hernandez, was taken into custody in Ohio on records tampering charges because he allegedly “falsified identifying information to obtain fictitious State of Ohio identification card”, according to a criminal complaint. Hernandez was charged in Ohio with tampering with records to get a driver’s license and was jailed on $250,000 bail.
Hernandez has been in contact with his mother, Evans said, but he wasn’t sure whether it was by phone, email or other methods.
Julian’s mother, through a spokesperson, told Alabama’s WVTM that she was grateful for the wave of support her son’s story had generated, but that she wouldn’t be granting any media requests. “It’s a good thing to be able to step out of the negativity and walk into something that’s positive”, Lt. Johnny Evans of Vestavia Hills Police Department said. “Everybody that knows him loves him”. Lt. Johnny Evans said.
Authorities said they’re still trying to piece together what happened to the boy over the 13 years he was missing.
Authorities confirmed the young man’s identity on Monday.
Officers received “hundreds of leads over the years of where he might be, from Florida to out of the country – Canada – and we followed up on every one of them, and they all turned out to be a dead end until I got the call Monday”, Evans said.
In a statement released through a family representative, the boy’s mother said: “Our family was overjoyed this week to locate Julian and learn that he is safe”.
The boy and his father have apparently been living in Cleveland, she said.
“To me”, he said, “this is what it’s all about – reuniting families”. “You know, ‘He’s here, he’s here, he’s here.’ We check it out and it’s not him or he’s not there”, Evans said.
Jefferson County authorities on Thursday charged the father with interference of child custody, a felony.
A message left with his attorney was not immediately returned.
“He’s pretty upset”, DeFranco said. Defense attorney Ralph DeFranco said Friday that he and his client are waiting to see if Hernandez will be extradited to Alabama.
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“I would like to take this opportunity to make a request to the media”.
