CINCINNATI, Ohio — A Medina native arrested in April after authorities say he pretended to be an Illinois boy missing since 2011 will plead guilty to federal charges on Wednesday, according to reports.
U.S. District Court records show Brian Rini, 24, has signed a plea agreement, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. The details of the plea agreement were not available Monday, according to the Enquirer.
In April, Rini was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements to the FBI and aggravated identity theft. Federal authorities said Rini claimed he was Timmothy Pitzen, a missing Aurora, Illinois, boy, when police in Newport, Kentucky, approached him on April 3.
Rini told an officer he was kidnapped as a child and he “just wanted to go home,” according to an affidavit written by a Cincinnati police officer in April.
The officer took Rini to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital after Rini complained of abdominal pain. He reiterated his story to FBI agents and said he had been held captive by two men, who sexually abused him for years while being held captive, according to the affidavit.
Rini told the agents he escaped from a nearby motel. But he refused to provide the agents with fingerprints, the affidavit said. He did allow investigators to take a swab from his cheek for DNA testing. That testing showed he wasn’t Timmothy, the affidavit stated, but it was used to identify him as Rini, who had previous felony convictions in Medina County.
According to the Enquirer, Rini could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison for lying to federal agents. If he pleads to an aggravated identify theft charge, he would face an additional mandatory two-year sentence, the Enquirer reports.
WKRC Channel 12 reports that Pitzen disappeared in 2011 when he was 6 years old. His mother took him out of his school, when killed herself days later, leaving a note saying Pitzen would never be found.
Police in Aurora, Illinois, told CNN in April that despite the hoax, investigators are still hoping to search for Pitzen.
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