The mother of a Houston, Texas teenager, who went missing 8-years ago and was supposedly found, is banned from GoFundMe for fabricating a fake disappearance story.
Rudy Farias’ mom has been permanently banned from GoFundMe and may face legal action after she raked in thousands of dollars from his eight-year sham disappearance.
Janie Santana raised more than $2,000 using the fundraising platform after claiming her 17-year-old son went out to walk the dogs and never came home in 2015.
However, Houston police revealed last week that Farias had actually returned home the very next day and that Janie fabricated the whole story.
GoFundMe has now issued a statement saying that Santana has been banned and that it may take legal action against those who exploit the generosity of our community.
The ‘Donate to Help Find Rudy Farias IV’ page was set up with a goal of $75,000 by a woman named Julissa Bravo, whose relationship to Santana remains unclear, but has now been removed from the website.
The phony story of the missing boy sensationally unraveled last week when police and a mediator, local activist Quanell X, met with Santana and her son, now 25, at a hotel.
Quanell X would later claim that Farias had been sexually abused and kept at the home like a slave. However, police later disputed this account, but they did confirm the disappearance was a sham.
Chief Troy Finner said, “We are still investigating, but have yet to solidify any charges at this time.”
In the meantime, GoFundMe has verified that Santana was the beneficiary of more than 30 donations, and received the funds in 2015.
“GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform and cooperates with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “The fundraiser has been removed from the platform and the beneficiary has been banned from using GoFundMe for any future fundraisers.”
A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department stated, “As of Friday there is no specific investigation into the donations Santana received. These claims will be part of the ongoing investigation into the case. It has also been brought to our attention that another GoFundMe page was created after Rudy was ‘found’ outside the church last month to solicit money to cover his medical costs and recovery.”
Social media users shared grabs of the page and said it was taken down after Santana’s story began falling apart. The company has not confirmed this account.
Santana first filed a missing persons report on March 7, 2015, in which she claimed the day prior on March 6 her son Rudy, then 17, went missing while taking their dogs for a walk around their Houston neighborhood.
According to that missing persons report, a few hours later one of the dogs returned home and the next morning the second dog came back. Both were reportedly missing their leashes.
But more recently it was revealed that Farias, who suffered from various mental disabilities, actually returned home the day after going on the walk with the dogs.
Then a couple of weeks later, on March 22, Farias’ mother started the GoFundMe page to raise money and coordinate renewed search efforts for her supposedly missing son.
“It has been over a Month and Rudy is still Missing,” it read. “Please help us find RUDY FARIAS IV! Rudy went out to walk his 2 puppies on March 6th 2015 and has not been seen nor heard from since then ! Rudy’s 2 puppies WERE FOUND but not Rudy! He suffers from both physical and mental disabilities, so we need to get him home ASAP!
“It has been over a Month and Rudy is still Missing,” it read. “Please help us find RUDY FARIAS IV! Rudy went out to walk his 2 puppies on March 6th 2015 and has not been seen nor heard from since then ! Rudy’s 2 puppies WERE FOUND but not Rudy! He suffers from both physical and mental disabilities, so we need to get him home ASAP!
“It has been over a Month and Rudy is still Missing,” it read. “Please help us find RUDY FARIAS IV! Rudy went out to walk his 2 puppies on March 6th 2015 and has not been seen nor heard from since then ! Rudy’s 2 puppies WERE FOUND but not Rudy! He suffers from both physical and mental disabilities, so we need to get him home ASAP!
“It has been over a Month and Rudy is still Missing,” it read. “Please help us find RUDY FARIAS IV! Rudy went out to walk his 2 puppies on March 6th 2015 and has not been seen nor heard from since then ! Rudy’s 2 puppies WERE FOUND but not Rudy! He suffers from both physical and mental disabilities, so we need to get him home ASAP! All ground searches have been pulled back and now we (The Entire Houston Texas Community ) have to get our own ground search together! People say that it takes a village to raise a child. … NOW… We NEED The Village to Help Find our Child! We are asking for donations to be able to offer a reward for Information leading us TO Rudy as well as medical expenses for Rudy since he has been missing since March 6th,and each day that passes…means his health is deteriorating gravelly …”
Houston Police have now said Farias had never been missing, as had been widely suspected after he reappeared last week, eight years after Santana claimed he had vanished.
They have also said they would not be pressing charges against Rudy and that he was never technically regarded as ‘missing’.
Farias was ‘found’ unresponsive outside the Immaculate Heart Church in Houston at around 10pm on June 29.
A few days later his mother publicly celebrated his discovery.
“My son Rudy Farias IV was found on Thursday, June 29th, after being missing for eight years,” she wrote. “My son Rudy is receiving the care he needs to overcome his trauma, but at this time, he is nonverbal and not able to communicate with us. We are asking for privacy during this difficult time but will share more details as Rudy continues to heal.”
On July 5 he met with investigators and a famous civil rights activist Quanell X, who later told the press that Farias had told him Santana had committed sexual and physical abuse of him since his supposed disappearance.
Farias said, “I was never really missing. My mom was just deceiving the police since her claims of me disappearing. My mom held me captive and made me act like her husband. She told me my name is “daddy” now and she would call me that while forcing kisses on my mouth.”
Quanell insisted that Rudy is a victim and his mother should be charged with a crime.
“I begged them to not let that boy in her custody,” he said. “I’m gonna try to help Rudy as much as possible and I think the DA needs to press charges against her and that Rudy should be removed from her custody in some type of way, I don’t believe he’s safe in her custody at all.”
