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6-Year-Old Boy 'not truthful' About His Alleged Abduction, Suspect Freed

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Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr

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A six-year-old Monrovia boy claiming he was kidnapped Sunday could be responsible for a serious hoax, and now authorities say the child was "not truthful" with his case's investigators, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.The incident, as the child reported, involved the boy being grabbed from his backyard in unincorporated Monrovia. The child said he was able to break from from his alleged attacker, who he described as a Hispanic man, by biting him.

The LASD launched what they call an "extensive investigation" out of their Temple Station. They arrested a suspect Sunday night who matched the composite sketch created based on the boy's description of the suspect.

However, the following day, "additional information became available to the investigators," say the LASD. "This information did not corroborate the facts as related by the victim," explain the authorities.

"Sheriff's Sgt. Harry Drucker said the department was not releasing the information that discredited the child's story Monday night but speculated that the child may have confessed to being untruthful," notes Monrovia Patch.

Based on their findings, they released the suspect, and the investigation is ongoing. Standards regarding filing a false report vary between adults and children, explains CBS2. "It remains unclear whether the child, the parents or both will face any criminal charges."

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