Missing ‘at risk’ teen is found

NEWS-LEDGER ONLINE – OCT 17, 2011 -

A 14-year old “special needs” boy turned up in a Southport store Sunday evening, about four miles from the home he wandered away from earlier.

Lieutenant Tod Sockman of the West Sacramento Police Department said the boy, Byron Moore, was helping his father on the 500-block of Glide Avenue when he went missing late Sunday afternoon.

“He’s deaf and he wandered away from home. He and his dad were washing a motorcycle, and the father turned around and the kid was gone,” said Sockman.

  Police initiated a “reverse 911 system” call, sending out automated messages to local phone numbers to alert residents of the missing, at-risk child. Police, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and a Sacramento law enforcement helicopter all joined in the search.

At about 7:30 p.m., a security guard at Target spotted the boy wandering unattended. The boy was returned home basically uninjured – although he did suffer a minor fall during his adventure, said Sockman.