Fact Check

OUTDATED MISSING CHILD ALERT: Young Boy Kidnapped in Pennsylvania

The boy pictured in a missing child appeal circulating on Facebook was actually abducted and found safe back in March 2016.

Published Jan. 3, 2017

Claim:
A 7-year-old boy is missing after being kidnapped from his home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

A photograph circulating on Facebook in early 2017 sought help finding a missing boy who had reportedly gone missing from his Pennsylvania home after abduction. Although the appeal was a somewhat fact-based one, the child has long since been found and safely returned to his home.

Harrisburg television station WHP reported on 30 December 2016 that the boy seen in the photograph is actually 7-year-old Ariel Revello, noting that "He is NOT from Harrisburg and, most importantly, he is NOT missing."

Ariel Revello is actually from Connecticut and was the subject of an Amber Alert issued on 12 March 2016, when his father Rodolfo Revello allegedly took him (along with thousands of dollars in cash) after attacking Ariel's mother.

The boy was found later the same day at a relative's home after his father contacted police. Rodolfo Revello was arrested twelve days later in New York City and charged with assault and kidnapping.

Sources

WHP-TV. "FYI | Kidnapping alert spreading on social media for "Harrisburg child" NOT true." local21news.com. 30 December 2016.

Griffin, Alaine and Stoller, Kristin. "Police Have Warrant For Father In Trumbull Amber Alert." The Hartford Courant. 14 March 2016.

Gecan, Alex N. "Trumbull cops: Suspected kidnapper caught in N.Y." The Connecticut Post. 24 March 2016.

Juliano, Frank. "Warrant issued for dad charged with kidnapping his 7 year-old son." The Connecticut Post. 14 March 2016.

Arturo Garcia is a former writer for Snopes.

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