Brian Michael Rini, who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen, has criminal past – NBC News
The man who surfaced in Kentucky claiming to be Timmothy Pitzen, a boy who went missing at the age of 6 in 2011, is instead a 23-year-old Ohio man with a criminal record — and he may now face more charges.
Brian Michael Rini told investigators in Kentucky on Wednesday that he was Pitzen and had run across an Ohio bridge after escaping two kidnappers. But DNA tests indicated that the man was not the boy who vanished eight years ago, officials said Thursday.
He was booked into the Hamilton County Jail in Ohio Thursday night, according to inmate records, but it’s not clear if he had been charged. Newport, Kentucky, Police Chief Tom Collins told NBC affiliate WLWT that Rini would likely face misdemeanor charges of making a false report.
Rini was released from jail less than a month ago after serving 18 months in Ohio for trashing a $400,000 model home with a group of friends while holding a “tattoo party.” He pleaded guilty to burglary and vandalism in that incident in January 2018.
Meanwhile, Rini was found guilty in another case on a count of unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was sentenced to three years of probation, 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay $1,750, and other court costs.
But he didn’t pay the fines before heading to jail on the burglary and vandalism convictions.
When he was released from his sentence for those charges on March 7, he was supposed to begin three years of supervision. But when officials attempted to serve him with the bill, which had nearly doubled, they couldn’t find him at his Medina, Ohio, address and the order was “returned not served,” according to court records.
The bill was returned to court on March 26, about a week before Rini was discovered in Kentucky, NBC Chicago reported.
Rini also pleaded guilty in 2015 to passing bad checks and was sentenced to three years of intensive supervision, according to Medina County court documents. He allegedly violated his probation in 2016 and 2017, and was ordered back to court each time.
His estranged brother, Jonathan Rini, told NBC Chicago that the 23-year-old had stopped getting treatment for numerous mental health issues. “I’d tell the family that I’m sorry for what he’s done, but for him, I wouldn’t even speak to him,” Jonathan Rini said.
The family of the boy, who disappeared while on a road trip with his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, said Thursday they remained hopeful that he would be found.
Fry-Pitzen, 43, is believed to have picked Timmothy up from school, taking him to a zoo and water park before she was found dead by what appeared to be suicide in a motel room in Rockford, Illinois, according to a police report and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Notes she left behind stated her son was safe but would never be found, authorities have said.
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