BERNARDS TOWNSHIP — The parents of a 17-year-old boy who ran away Friday from a residential treatment program in Utah are staying in Salt Lake City to help authorities expand their search to local television and social media.

Greg and Debbie Mayer were visiting their teenage son, also named Gregory Mayer, at the Discovery Ranch, a residential treatment center in Mapleton, Utah for teenage boys when he went missing. His parents believe he's trying to make his way home to New Jersey, his father told NJ.com.

"We arrived last Wednesday, spent Thursday and Friday morning on the ranch, and then took Greg out Friday afternoon," Mayer told NJ.com Thursday by telephone from Salt Lake City. "He left Friday evening."

Mayer said he reported his son's disappearance to Lt. Darren Paul of the Lehi, Utah police, who entered the case in a national law enforcement missing persons database.

The missing boy stands 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighs about 140 pounds, has brown hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a navy blue sweater, muddy boots and no jacket, his father said.

"But he might have picked up a green jacket and over-the-shoulder mailbag from someone," Mayer said.

Mayer said that at first, his son was resistant to being placed in the program, but after a few months it seemed things were going well and he was accepting the treatment.

"By January or February he was coming around that this wasn't such a bad idea," Mayer said. "But more recently I guess he decided he didn't want to be in the program."

His parents said they are concerned because he left the ranch with no money, no identification and no cell phone.

"He couldn't get onto a plane, so his only way back would be on a Greyhound bus because they don't require ID," Mayer said. "Or he may be trying to hitchhike, which is very dangerous."

Mayer said he and his wife are remaining in Salt Lake City to do everything they can think of to help police track down their boy.

"We've been handing out leaflets, talking to people, driving around, going into retailers and handing out flyers," Mayer said. "Initially when we were staying down in Provo we called a lot of shelters and hospitals to make them aware he was missing."

The father said that he's walked the streets at night and visited the shelters himself. He said the homeless shelters there are "tough, scary places."

Mayer said that the giving dynamic of the city attracts a lot of transients who don't get turned away, and that in turn attracts predators.

"It was a real eye-opener, it's quite scary," Mayer said. "A kid from Basking Ridge is like a fish out of water here. I think you could honestly lose somebody here — people go off the grid if there's here too long."

There have been some sightings of the missing boy. BEGIN RELATED LINKS

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On Monday, Mayer received a call that an off-duty Salt Lake City police officer alerted security at a Mormon temple that the boy they had detained could be the missing teen, so security contacted Mayer, but couldn't detain the boy long enough for his father to arrive.

Mayer said he headed straight down to where his son was spotted, but the boy "got spooked" by security stalling him, so he packed up his things and got away. Temple security said the boy told them he was trying to raise money to get back to New Jersey, his father said.

Also on Monday, Mayer received a phone call from the owner of a Mexican restaurant in Orem, Utah who said his son was at their establishment on Saturday. The owner recognized the boy later when he saw the missing flyer on Facebook.

"We went down to Orem but we didn't get as much traction as we would have liked," Mayer said.

Mayer said he and his wife have been hoping to get more local television coverage in Utah, where they believe their son still remains, but were having no luck until Thursday, when police finally agreed to release the story to local media.

"I'm really relieved," Mayer said. " We're getting the word out, but if the TV starts running the story that could be powerful."

"It's like I'm living in a TV movie," Mayer said. "I'm praying a lot, and we have a lot of people praying for us."

Mayer asks anyone with information about his missing son to call him at 201-805-3867, email him at gregmayer2@optonline.net, or to call local police. He also asks people to spread the word through social media however they can.