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Missing California 16-year-old claimed to have run away voluntarily, investigators say
A teenager has been found safe in San Francisco nearly a week after disappearaing, investigators said Sunday.
The 16-year-old was located around 11:30 p.m. Saturday inside a white van with an “adult friend” identified as 26-year-old Christopher “Kio” Dizefalo, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said.
Police found the pair inside the van in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, the San Francisco Standard reported. The area is known for homelessness and drugs.
The teen was unharmed and claimed to have run away from home voluntarily, the sheriff’s office said.
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Dizefalo is believed to have convinced the teen to leave the home in Bolinas, about 13 miles northwest of San Francisco, on April 21.
Dizefalo was arrested on suspicion of multiple felonies, including child abduction and unlawful sex intercourse with a minor, as well as a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to online jail records. He was booked into the Marin County Jail, where his bail was set at $50,000.
San Francisco’s Tenderloin district is known for homelessness and open-air drug use. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, File / Getty Images)
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The teen is now back with family, investigators said.
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The sheriff’s office thanked local police, the FBI and the public for their efforts in helping to locate the teenager.
FOX Business’ Pilar Arias contributed to this report.
