An grownup Venezuelan migrant and father allegedly pretended to be a 16-year-old boy so he may enroll in an Ohio highschool — and even performed two sports activities with youngsters almost a decade youthful, in response to police.
Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra is accused of falsely presenting himself as an unaccompanied minor and enrolling at Perrysburg Excessive College, southwest of Toledo, in January final 12 months — and tricking a household into taking him in, in response to police.
When he first contacted the varsity in November 2023, he allegedly claimed that he had been trafficked to the US from Venezuela and stated his birthday was Dec. 2, 2007, in response to police paperwork seen by 13 ABC.
Nonetheless, he’s allegedly a 24-year-old Venezuelan nationwide who has kids residing within the US, in response to prosecutors.
He instructed college officers his identify was Anthony Labrador, in response to a letter despatched from Perrysburg Colleges Superintendent Thomas Hosler to oldsters and group members.
Sierra was enrolled on the college for 14 months earlier than college officers contacted the Perrysburg Police Division on Monday concerning doable fraudulent exercise involving considered one of their college students, police stated in a press release on Tuesday.
Cops opened a fraud case and assigned it to the Detective Bureau for investigation.
“By our investigation and dealing with U.S. Customs and Border Safety and the Workplace of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it was found that Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra, a 24-year-old from Venezuela, had used fraudulent paperwork to enroll in Perrysburg Colleges, and was posing as a 17-year-old highschool scholar,” the assertion learn.
Sierra lived with a Perrysburg household after his guardianship was granted by the Wooden County Juvenile Court docket, in response to Hosler.
The household grew to become suspicious about Sierra’s actual age and contacted the varsity, saying that they had obtained info that he was, in reality, a 24-year-old man, Hosler’s letter learn.
On Might 14, the mom of Sierra’s youngster allegedly reached out to his oblivious guardians and claimed he was 24 years previous, sending them images and paperwork, together with an Ohio driver’s license below his actual identify with a birthday of March 27, 2001, in response to police paperwork.
Sierra denied the allegations when he was confronted by college officers, referencing his start certificates, which might have made him 17 as of Might 14.
However the college district instructed Sierra’s guardians to maintain him off college property whereas they investigated.
Sierra smirked on the digital camera as he appeared in Perrysburg Municipal Court docket on Tuesday afternoon through video from the Wooden County Jail, the place he was listed as Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra.
A decide set his bond at $50,000 and forbade him from leaving Wooden County.
He will even must put on an ankle monitor and stay two miles away from Perrysburg Excessive College.
When requested the place he would stay if launched, he stated he would stick with a girl named Emily with whom he stated he shares kids.
His alleged rip-off was uncovered after college district leaders found social media posts by folks claiming to be Sierra’s actual household, WTOL 11 reported.
Whereas on the college, Sierra was concerned within the college’s swimming and soccer packages, Hosler instructed WTOL 11.
He allegedly utilized for and obtained numerous documentation whereas he was enrolled on the college, together with a driver’s license, a Social Safety quantity and federal Short-term Protecting Standing from the US Immigration Division, in response to court docket data.
Sierra additionally allegedly accomplished a visa utility with the assistance of Advocating Alternatives, a bunch that gives free authorized help.
As a non-US citizen, Sierra’s prices might result in deportation, prosecutors stated.
Police are wanting into what prosecutors described as “questionable materials” discovered on the residence the place Sierra was staying, in addition to points he reportedly had with the varsity.
Sierra entered a plea of not responsible on Tuesday and might be represented by a public defender.
