PLANTATION, Fla. – A 16-year-old boy who ran away from his father last December in Plantation escaped from the custody of the Department of Children and Families, police said.
According to Plantation police Detective Philip Toman, Aage Jorgensen was spotted Tuesday morning in the bathroom of a Hampton Inn in Vero Beach.
"He was found sleeping first in the area that the ice machine was kept in at the Hampton Inn in downtown Vero Beach," Aage's father, Bruce Jorgensen, told Local 10 News reporter Shyann Malone. "A short while later, they found that the men's room was locked and an employee then found him sleeping on top of a vanity."
Police said Aage provided officers with a false name, but police were able to make a positive identification on him. Jorgensen said he recognized the alias that Aage gave authorities.
"It's a word from a Samoan language -- a name that he knows that I would know," Jorgensen said.
DCF was notified and employees took Aage to its facility in Fort Pierce, where he jumped out of the car and ran away, Toman said.
"The welfare and safety of Aage is of the utmost importance to the department," DCF spokeswoman Paige Patterson-Hughes said in a statement. "Child protective investigators are working with law enforcement and his father to safely locate the teen."
Police said Aage was previously last seen Dec. 28 at American Heritage School in Plantation.
Police said they were not notified about the boy's disappearance until Jan. 9 by Hawk's Landing security, when Aage's father dropped off fliers at the community in an attempt to find his son.
Detectives said Jorgensen was uncooperative with authorities and said that he did not want to file an official police report.
According to detectives, the father later claimed that he had kicked his son out of his car Dec. 27, when Aage was being rude.
Police said Jorgensen was contacted by detectives on Jan. 14 and told them that his son was still missing, but he did not want to file a missing person's report.
Jorgensen was arrested in late January at Miami International Airport with the help of the FBI and Miami-Dade police after detectives claimed that he purchased a one-way ticket to New Zealand.
He was released from jail last month after his attorney showed the court proof that Jorgensen planned to return to South Florida, bringing in his return flight ticket. He said Jorgensen was only visiting New Zealand on business.
Aage's family told Local 10 News that he has run away before, but has always returned home.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call Detective Philip Toman at 954-797-2710. You can also call Bruce Jorgensen at 703-832-2024 or his private investigator at 954-557-6111.