Plea agreement reached for man who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen, Aurora boy missing since 2011
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A plea agreement has been reached in the case of a man authorities say claimed to be a missing child.
In April 2019, Cincinnati area police said a 14-year-old boy told authorities that he was Timmothy Pitzen and that he "had just escaped from two kidnappers that have been holding him for seven years."
Two days later, police announced that person lied about being Pitzen, an Aurora, Illinois, boy who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.
WATCH: Timeline of Timmothy Pitzen case
Brian Michael Rini, 24, was arrested and charged by the FBI for making false statements to a federal agent.
Shortly after he was approached by authorities, Rini claimed he was experiencing abdominal pain and was rushed to Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Benjamin Glassman, Rini then declined to provide his fingerprints but did provide a swab for a DNA test. After the results of a DNA test showed he was not Pitzen, federal investigators returned to talk to Rini and told him it was a violation of federal law to lie to investigators, but Rini repeated that he was Pitzen.
After he was confronted with DNA evidence, Rini told investigators that he wanted to get away from his own family and wanted a father like Timmothy's.
"While our agents and other law enforcement partners were skeptical that this person was who he claimed to be, we felt that it was our duty to the victims and the family of Timmothy Pitzen to follow up all logical leads," Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Herb Stapleton said in April 2019.
Glassman said Rini became aware of the Pitzen case from an old 20/20 episode that had rerun a few weeks ago. The real Timmothy Pitzen was last seen in 2011, days before his mother took her life.
Authorities said Rini has twice before lied about being a victim of juvenile sex trafficking. He appeared in court Friday morning and is being held in federal custody in Cincinnati without bond. He could face up to eight years in federal prison.
A prosecutor's federal court filing Monday in the Rini case didn't make any details public.
Rini is scheduled to appear in U.S. district court Wednesday. His federal public defender didn't immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Judge Michael Barrett ruled Oct. 31 that Rini was competent to stand trial.
RAW VIDEO: Timmothy Pitzen last seen on surveillance video
On May 11, 2011, surveillance video captured Timmothy's mother, 43-year-old Amy Fry Pitzen, picking him up from Greenman Elementary School in Aurora. She told the school there was a family emergency.
Police said Pitzen took her son to Brookfield Zoo and to Key Lime Cove in Gurnee. On May 12, they checked into the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells.
Timmothy and his mom were last seen together on the morning of May 13, checking out of the resort.
Police said Pitzen then checked herself into a motel in Rockford, Illinois, that night. She appeared to be alone.
She was found dead on May 14. She had taken her own life.
Police said Pitzen left a suicide note that said, "Tim is somewhere safe with people who love him and will care for him. You will never find him."
In August 2011, police disclosed they found a "concerning" amount of blood in the back seat of Pitzen's SUV after her death. Tests showed the blood was Timmothy's. Authorities also released a video clip of 6-year-old Timmothy playing a make-believe guitar, hoping that the boy's disappearance would remain in the public eye.
New image released of Timmothy Pitzen, missing Aurora boy
In 2013, Pitzen's cellphone was recovered from a roadside ditch near Rockford. Police said there was no useful information on the phone.
In 2015, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children released an age progression of what Timmothy would look like at 10 years old. A woman in Rockton, Illinois, thought she saw a boy resembling the image, but it wasn't him.
ABC7 Chicago contributed to this article.
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