The mother of Rudy Farias profited from her son's alleged disappearance, a GoFundMe spokesperson told Newsweek on Thursday.
Janie Santana filed a missing person report on March 7, 2015, after Farias purportedly vanished after taking his two dogs for a walk near his family's home in northeast Houston. He was 17 at the time and not "found" until June 29 of this year, when authorities located him bruised and battered outside a church.
Houston police officials said during a press conference Thursday that there are inconsistencies with the story behind the original report, as well as the relationship between Farias and Santana and what other family members knew about the situation.
GoFundMe said that a campaign was launched in March 2015 after Farias, now 25, was declared missing by his mother. It was created by a woman named Julissa Bravo, whose ties to the family remain unknown.
The beneficiary of the campaign was confirmed to be Santana, who pocketed $2,025 and last received a donation eight years ago.
"GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform and cooperates with law enforcement investigations and those accused of wrongdoing," the spokesperson said. "Our trust and safety team takes swift action against those who exploit the generosity of our community, including with the outright removal of a fundraiser, banning an account for violating our terms of service, and even pursuing potential legal recourse."
Following the Houston police press conference Thursday, GoFundMe said that at the discretion of its trust and safety team, it permanently banned Santana—who received all of the funds in the campaign—from the platform and from all future beneficiary opportunities.
It's unclear whether they will pursue legal avenues for the money she collected.
The link to the former campaign now contains a broken URL and cannot "be found" on the site.
Over the past eight years, GoFundMe reportedly received no fraud reports from law enforcement or community members related to the campaign. It received multiple alerts on Wednesday, however, guiding their latest decision.
Houston police said Thursday that Farias and his mother have been reunited, even though officials confirmed that the pair provided fictitious names to police over the course of the last eight years.
Santana has also been accused of "severe abuse" by community activists like Quanell X, who relayed his concerns to detectives on Wednesday. Farias made no mention of abuse, sexual or otherwise, during his interview with a staff sergeant.
Farias and Santana could potentially be charged for the fictitious names and false report, which the Harris County District Attorney's Office has declined to do at this point because the investigation is ongoing.
