I would caution people using the word scam. Unless this is a The Imposter (Nicholas Barclay) situation which I would think most likely not, no matter who he is, this is a traumatized child who has likely been through hell. I am most inclined to think it is not Timmothy. I stopped following true crime cases some years ago. How often are missing children found alive after years? Of course there was Steven Stayner and Shawn Hornbeck(?). Any other cases? Both of them suffered horrific abuse by their captors. People don't kidnap children just to put them with new, happy families. I am glad a DNA test is being done immediately to get concrete answers so there is no chance of a repeat of the Barclay situation. I would love to be wrong about this not being him. PS DCFS workers are doing gods work. They aren't selling children. Good grief.
Thank you. A human trafficking ring conducted by social services is utter nonsense.
Let's try to stay in reality.
Human trafficking is not like the movies. It's not like the myth of little white kids and women stolen, sold and passed around through "rings".
It's illegal adoptions. Immigrants sold into slavery and told they have to work off the cost of transporting them to the new country. It's poor women thinking they're going to another country for work but forced into prostitution.
It's runaways from dysfunctional homes, kids who are mentally ill, drug addicted, poor, LGBTQ, primarily black, who are lured by low level, criminals into prostituting themselves at truck stops and via ads.
That's the reality. Not some kind of "ring" with politicians and government officials and rich men bidding for some middle class and much beloved child or young woman snatched off the street and passed around between being held in cages.
Are there pedohpiles who swap photos and videos and sometimes sell access to kids they're molesting? Yes. But it's not the mythic stuff of the movies. Most of the kids are either neighbors or their own through biology, adoption or foster care. Not kidnap victims.
And the pedophiles aren't typically body builders with tough guy tattoos. They look mostly like accountants. (I've seen too many).
The kid in the photo does resemble Timmothy. My skepticism has to do with the description of the men, which sounds like stereotypical "bad guys", the photo of the kid, because he looks possibly older than 14, and the fact that one person thought he was breaking into a car.
Of course he could still be Timmothy and have become a street kid who ran away from whatever situation he was in, because it wasn't good or he never assimilated.
Hopefully we find out today.