Interesting story about a child kidnapped at age 5. His college counselor helped him discovered his true identity when he had trouble with his SSN during the application process:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/us/missing-boy-found-alabama-ohio/
That’s a great story, even though I always told my kids not to put their social security numbers on apps.
I guess in this case it’s a really good thing that he did. Your mileage may vary 
I wonder what the boy had been told about why he wasn’t ever seeing his mom.
Probably was told she died.
Hmm…if this is the same kid, he’s not all that interested in meeting mom. Other stories say that the boy and his dad lived with a woman and two other children. Other woman may have been his mother figure for a long time.
^That’s sort of horrifying.
How is he going to feel about his father now that he knows the truth? This is horrible for the kid.
It is horrible for the child and my heart breaks for the mom if he decides he can’t meet her.
Interesting that the Reddit poster (? the abducted child) went to Reddit for advice … he could have come here and we’d have given him a lot of advice and support. We here on CC are nice and supportive, aren’t we?
Article in our AL newspaper today. The authorities suspected from the start that the disappearance was due to Bobby Hernandez - who went by assumed name Jonathan Mangina and son went by JJ. The day of the disappearance, Bobby had agreed to take his son to preschool, but had withdrawn cash from his bank accounts and fled.
I suspect the mother was very young (or maybe just vulnerable, because the father Bobby would have been 35 when the boy was born, as he is 53 now) and living with her parents - Vestavia Hills is an upscale neighborhood/suburb in Birmingham. The boy was taken w/o consent. There was no formal custody agreement.
Over the years, there have been so many false claims and chasing leads that went no-where.
Since Julian/JJ received a driver’s license in 2012 with false information, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles was able to charge the dad with one count of tampering with records, and they have set bond at $250,000.
Seriously? The guy picked a joke for a fake last name? Weird!
Kid is probably happy to find out he doesn’t have to go by the Man-gina last name anymore.
I was wondering how this worked for him being registered in school, don’t they require birth certificate and social security number? I know for getting a driver’s license in our state you need these two items.
Also I wondered how dad claimed him on his taxes with a wrong social sec number/name, but it seems dad didn’t file taxes?
Local news show in Ohio interviewed a neighbor who said father said they had no contact with JJ’s mom who just didn’t want to be a mom anymore. So, he didn’t tell the boy she was dead.
News story saying Reddit poster went back and said he is Julian Hernandez. He deleted originial post. He says news outlets showed up at his school yesterday and were camped outside his home. He doesn’t want to speak publicly right now.
You know, I am as guilty as anyone else of being curious about news stories like this. However, if there were ever a young man who deserved his privacy, it’s this kid.
@mommdc The charges dad was being held on in Ohio were for the fact documents he gave Julian to get his driver’s license. Kid apparently had no idea they were fake.
I have a feeling there is more to this story. I wonder if the woman he was living with, identified in news stories as his wife, knew? See…there I go…I’m curious.
If he didn’t tell his wife the truth, she must be reeling too. She thought she knew a guy who had a kid without benefit of marriage, who stepped up to the plate to raise his child when mom just wasn’t interested, so kid didn’t end up in foster care. Now, she finds out that he kidnapped the kid and has a different name.
Later reddit post says the kid–if same person–has a little sister only a few years old (presumably by current wife) kid really doesn’t want dad to go to prison since this will really mess things up for the little girl. I just feel sorrier and sorrier for this kid if all this is true.
Yep, sounds like reddit poster is the real deal.
Kids often find family secrets when it is time to get a driver’s license or apply for financial aid. Not all are terrible stories of kidnapping or worse, but sometimes that paperwork was never completed. I guy I worked with from a wealthy family (prep schools, Princeton) had a sister who wasn’t documented. His parents had just brought her home from Mexico when she was a baby and never completed paperwork to adopt her or get her citizenship. It was never an issue until she was an adult. They lived in NYC so she didn’t drive, they didn’t need FA for school, and I guess they never traveled to anywhere she needed a passport. Of course, it was then a big mess when she needed documentation.
Internationally adopted children often find paperwork mistakes when they apply for FA. The SS status has never been changed to ‘citizen’ or the adoption was not properly finalized in the USA.
One thing that isn’t clear in the above stories is that the Reddit poster says it was his father who told him that he couldn’t give the tax info because of the fraud. If the son knew that, why proceed with the applications? Why use the SSN for applications (you don’t have to unless you are applying for FA)?
There are a gazillion reasons.
One is that the young man attends a public high school in Ohio. I think there’s a good chance that once the school knew he wasn’t really JJ Mangina it wasn’t willing to issue high school transcripts to colleges or give him a diploma in a phony name. But he’s already taken his ACT using the alias. He apparently scored well and it’s November.
Maybe he’s had teachers write letters of recommendation for JJ Mangina and maybe he’s actually applied. How does he get transcripts issued in real name and test scores and letters in alias to match?
Second, this kid probably needs FA.
Third, presumably he may not have wanted to live in the shadows for the rest of his life. At this point, it doesn’t appear that he’s broken any laws, but if he wants to work at a job, is he going to run the risk that an employer is going to note the same discrepency between name and social security number? Is he going to get a college diploma in a fake name?
It seems to me that once he knew, he didn’t have many options.
Read The Face on the Milk Carton. Excellent Young Adult book.
In AL radio news today, they said he has talked to his mom on the phone but has not met with her yet.
Since he is 18, he has a choice on where he wants to live. I would imagine he will want to meet his relatives in B’ham area - esp. his mother.
I hope so, but we’ll see.
Maybe @mom2collegekids can interest the young man in attending the University of Alabama… 