Missing Crestone boy recovered from Utah

SAGUACHE — A 12-year-old Crestone boy reported missing from his home on Sunday has been located in Garfield County, Utah with the man suspected of transporting him from the area, Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI) reported Monday.

An AMBER Alert was issued for the boy Sunday. He was last seen at 3 p.m. Saturday at his home before he went missing, KDVR Fox News in Denver reported Sunday.

The male juvenile was located with his suspected abductor, David Freeman, 60, at a reservoir near the town of Panguitch, Utah. According to a Channel 31 KDVR/Denver report Monday, a campground manager near the reservoir, Tom Adams, called law enforcement after a stranger showed up at his office in a pick-up. The man said he had encountered both Freeman and the juvenile crouched in the dirt and dressed in nothing but sneakers up a nearby dirt road.

Adams called the sheriff’s office and Garfield County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Freeman without incident, CBI reported. He was charged with first-degree felony kidnapping and lewdness.

The juvenile is being evaluated at a Utah hospital and his name has been withheld pending the determination of what exactly happened during the time he spent with Freeman. The juvenile is not related to Freeman, the CBI report confirmed. According to Facebook posts, the boy did odd jobs for Freeman and Freeman’s father had requested that Freeman not have contact with his son.

Saguache County Sheriff’s Office, CBI and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are conducting interviews and collaborating in the investigation of this case.

Authorities said they are working to correct problems with the Amber Alert system, which malfunctioned Sunday. Some cell phone users received multiple notifications while delivery to other cell phone users was delayed. FEMA cited program incompatibility as the cause of the glitch.

FEMA sends out wireless Amber Alerts cross the nation after a law enforcement agency provides details for the alerts. CBI said it is working with FEMA to determine what happened to delay the alerts going out. KDVR reported FEMA is training its employees on how to avoid the glitch that caused the Amber Alert delay.