A 9-year-old boy who managed to board a plane to Las Vegas last week without a ticket was reportedly investigated by child protection services after stealing a car and sneaking into a water park without paying.
Relatives of the boy confirmed that he had been the subject of four child-protection assessments since December alone, according to a Hennepin County official who spoke with the Star Tribune.
"The reports have been inconsistent and there have been no injuries to the child; however, there is a pattern of behavior," wrote Janine Moore, area director of the county's Human Services and Public Health Department.
Moore failed to identify the boy but said his mother works at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
An investigation has been opened to determine whether or not his mother helped him aboard the flight to Nevada, according to the Associated Press. He was able to pass through the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) checkpoint for his flight, and then blended in with a family with children when boarding the plane.
Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Patrick Hogan said the flight crew was suspicious of the boy after realizing he wasn't on their list of unattended minors.
The crew then contacted police, who met them after landing and transferred the boy to child protection services.
"It's hard to piece anything together from his stories why he got on the flight and went to Las Vegas," Hogan said, according to the Star Tribune.
Two weeks ago the boy was arrested after stealing a car on a local highway. He also has a history of taking trains to a water park where he waits until a large family is entering the park and joins them.
"Typically, staff can tell if a child is lying, but with this child, they are unsure what is going on," Moore wrote. "This is a two-parent home, and there is at least one other child."
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