Boy missing 13 years found in Cleveland

CLEVELAND — A child reported missing 13 years ago in Alabama was found here earlier this week, and the now-teenager discovered his status himself, authorities said

Julian Hernandez, now 18, had been living here with his father, Bobby Hernandez, under different names. But when the teen began applying to colleges, he learned that the Social Security number that his father gave him could not be verified, according to WVTM-TV, Birmingham, Ala.

"I've been doing this 25 years and it's something I've never experienced before," Lt. Johnny Evans, an officer in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, told WVTM. Investigators "spent tireless hours doing everything they could to try to find him."

With help from his school counselor, Julian Hernandez found himself on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database. The FBI was informed Friday, and authorities confirmed the teen's real identity.

He was unharmed and apparently thriving. His father was arrested and charged with tampering with records.

His mother, whose name was not released, has been in touch with her son since he was found, Evans said Thursday. When she learned Monday afternoon that her son had been found, she was thrilled but apprehensive at first because she had dealt with many false alarms.

Bobby Hernandez, 53, is accused of providing false information in March 2012 to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to obtain a fake identification card. He is being held on $250,000 bond in Cuyahoga County and also will face charges almost 650 miles away in Alabama for interference of custody, a felony that could carry a prison term of one to 10 years, when he is extradited.

"Our family was overjoyed this week to locate Julian and learn that he is safe," the family of Julian Hernandez's mother said in a statement that also asked for privacy so they could focus on the 18-year-old's well-being. "We want to thank everyone for their prayers and support during Julian's disappearance."

In the Ohio case, Bobby Hernandez was declared indigent and a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge appointed lawyer Ralph DeFranco to represent him.

In August 2002, Julian Hernandez's mother told Vestavia Hills that her 5-year-old's father had agreed to take the boy to preschool, but the pair never returned, according to the Birmingham (Ala.) News. The city's police department determined that the father had withdrawn cash from his bank accounts and fled, taking some of the child's possessions with him.

The couple was not married, Evans said.

Police classified the crime as a non-custodial abduction. They said that they had received hundreds of leads from across the USA and in Canada in the past 13 years, but all were dead ends until now.

The family lived on Cleveland's west side. A woman and two other children also lived in the home, according to the Cleveland Division of the FBI.

"He's (Bobby) been here three to five years," said Matt MeInyk, the Hernandez family's neighbor, calling the father a "pretty cool guy." "I had absolutely no idea this was happening. His son was very quiet, and from what I know, he was a good student."

No information was released on Julian and Bobby Hernandez's whereabouts in the years before moving to their present address. But FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson told the Birmingham paper that the pair apparently had been living in the Cleveland area since the abduction.

What happens next, in part, will be up to Julian Hernandez.

“He is 18, he is an adult, so it’s kind of up to him now as to whether he wants to come back,” Evans said.

Contributing: Andrew Yawn, The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser; Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY; The Associated Press. Follow Emily Crilley on Twitter: @emily_crilley