Ohio Town Stunned as 24-Year-Old Father Posed as 16-Year-Old High School Student.
The small town of Perrysburg, Ohio, has been rocked by the shocking revelation that a man posing as a 16-year-old human trafficking victim at Perrysburg High School was actually a 24-year-old father from nearby Toledo.
For more than a year, Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra convinced classmates, school officials, and even his legal guardians that he was a teenager seeking refuge. To residents, he was a vulnerable minor starting fresh. In reality, he was an adult with a child of his own, living a double life built on deception.
According to a police report, Labrador-Sierra contacted Perrysburg Schools on November 1, 2023, claiming to be homeless, an immigrant from Venezuela, and a victim of human trafficking. He asked to be enrolled as a student, presenting himself as just 16 years old.
By January 13, 2024, he met with administrators, producing a birth certificate that appeared to show he was born on December 2, 2007. Authorities now say the document was fraudulent, shaving six years off his real age. Under federal law, schools are required to enroll unaccompanied minors without demanding extensive paperwork, though Perrysburg Schools also obtained the questionable certificate.
With the help of community members, Labrador-Sierra was placed with Kathy and Brad Mefferd, a retired couple in their 60s, who took him in and were later granted permanent guardianship in November 2024.
To his peers, he blended in as just another high schooler. He even joined the soccer team—though to the surprise of many, he made the junior varsity squad instead of varsity. A parent whose son played alongside him recalled: “He was very charismatic and very nice. In hindsight, he had a different build than the average teenager and seemed more mature, but nothing stood out at the time.”
The façade unraveled in dramatic fashion when Evelyn Camacho, 22, the mother of Labrador-Sierra’s daughter, phoned the Mefferd household one evening. When his guardians answered, they were stunned by her claims.
Camacho later told The New York Post: “I was questioning what the truth was. Did he lie to me about being an adult? Or did he lie to them about being a child? I didn’t know what was going on. And I care about him he’s the father of my daughter.”
Shocked, the Mefferds alerted the school, which in turn notified police. A search of his room uncovered a burner phone, fake identification, a semiautomatic pistol, and three loaded 9mm magazines, according to the arrest affidavit.
Labrador-Sierra pleaded guilty to lying on immigration forms and providing false information on a firearm application. He has since been transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, where he faces the prospect of decades in federal prison.
Camacho, a U.S. citizen, expressed both anger and sadness over the situation:
“I was struggling to raise our daughter while he was living the life of a teenager with no responsibilities. He was being taken care of while I was trying to take care of our child.”
The revelation has shocked the 25,000 residents of Perrysburg, many of whom are grappling with how easily Labrador-Sierra was able to fool authorities. One parent said:
“People were shocked for sure. We live in an area that’s somewhat conservative. There were some who were like, ‘Holy moley, how did he get past school officials?”
In a statement, Perrysburg Schools defended their handling of the case, explaining:
“We’ve reviewed our enrollment process and confirmed we followed federal law. Schools are required to immediately enroll unaccompanied minors without requiring standard paperwork. While not required, the district did obtain a birth certificate.”
Still, Ohio State Representative Haraz N. Ghanbari has criticized the process, arguing that federal agencies should have verified Labrador-Sierra’s identity from the start.
“Customs and Border Protection should have been involved to investigate the trafficking allegations. They would have taken biometrics, which would have instantly revealed the truth about his age and identity.”
For Perrysburg, what began as a story of a community opening its arms to a vulnerable teenager ended in a dramatic case of fraud, deception, and public safety concerns. The discovery of weapons in his possession only deepened unease, raising questions about how thoroughly background checks are conducted when minors claim trafficking status.
The case has not only upended the Mefferd family, who welcomed him into their home, but also left residents uneasy about the vulnerabilities in school enrollment processes and immigration oversight.
As one shocked parent put it:
“We all wanted to believe he was just a kid looking for safety. Now, everyone’s asking how this could happen in our town.”
Post a Comment