Boy From the Woods

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...rious-teenager-tell-what-really-happened.html

"His parents divorced when he was a toddler and his mother took him and his elder brother Thomas, now 22, to Portugal. His father, Johan van Helsum, fought a custody battle and, upon winning the case, flew out to bring his sons back to the Netherlands."

"Mr. van Helsum agreed to let him move to the nearby town of Almelo, to live in supervised accommodation. Father visited son regularly, but the situation was far from ideal.

"''He was asked to leave after he got a girl pregnant,' his stepmother, Ellen van Helsum, told a local newspaper yesterday . 'She had been living with two other boys and Robin in the care home.'"

Fascinating. So he told many that he was in Berlin but nobody in the Netherlands heard of the forest boy story?

His past is still quite mysterious. Mom fled with him and his brother to Portugal? Dad fights for custody, wins and then puts him in a care home. He was then kicked out of the home because he got a girl pregnant. :waitasec:

Did I get that right? What a crazy story.
 
That strikes me as rather odd, you would think they would agree. I wonder why they had a falling out. I certainly hope he isn't Justin now, especially if he has a 2 year old son.

This story is starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth, I know people are going to be calling for his head now, and he does not quite seem all there.[/QUOTE]

BBM that is what I was thinking from the start. I think he has had an emotionally challenged family life, Not that many others have not... Just that for some the coping mechanism is not there. :)
 
I had a lot of sympathy for him until I read the article above when he was confronted with the information of who he was he said..."okay you got me".

If that is accurate reporting then this man isn't delusional but a con artist IMHO.

Quite the scam.


A con artist does not say Oh you got me, they dance around it and manipulate.
I think he was scared, did not know how to get help, and did not realize that the way he did go about it would create legal/costly problems. I do not think he was able to think through that. I think he survived with stories.
Just My Opinion.
 
Fascinating. So he told many that he was in Berlin but nobody in the Netherlands heard of the forest boy story?

His past is still quite mysterious. Mom fled with him and his brother to Portugal? Dad fights for custody, wins and then puts him in a care home. He was then kicked out of the home because he got a girl pregnant. :waitasec:

Did I get that right? What a crazy story.

I'm not sure what the news coverage was in Europe. My cousin is the Army attache to the Czech Republic and when the story broke about the "Boy from the Forest" living in Czech forests I contacted my cousin. He hadn't heard a word of the story, even though it supposedly involved the country where he is stationed.
 
I sense this was a hoax.

I'm not sure what you mean. I think we know it was a hoax.

Do you mean the boy in question was perpetrating a hoax as opposed to being mentally ill and suffering from delusions? If so, I think you are right.
 
I'm not sure what you mean. I think we know it was a hoax.

Do you mean the boy in question was perpetrating a hoax as opposed to being mentally ill and suffering from delusions? If so, I think you are right.

Perpetrating a hoax. I knew from the start this was a hoax.
 
While many questions have been answered, there is still some mystery surrounding van Helsum. Many are likely still wondering why a man seemingly easily left his life, and his son?
Then there are the questions of where he is now, and where will he go? Will he continue to run from his past, or will he embrace a future now that his "limbo" status under the safety net of the German government is gone?
There is also the issue of German officials seeking reimbursement for the costs incurred while van Helsum was under their care.
Rigi, his former flatmate, said, "It's true that he didn't have the most balanced start. But he wasn't a person to whinge about it; he had big dreams of working to help young people who went through similar experiences. That's why it is so strange that he just disappeared. I knew him really well – we would spend hours talking – and no one saw this coming."

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/327023
 

Interesting. I am curious where he is now. Do the German authorities know where he is so they can sue him? Can he be made to pay child support back home? Not sure how that kind of legal stuff works in Europe. I'd be afraid he'd just run off again if left to his own devices. He doesn't seem to be much interested in taking responsibility.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...blic-housing/UPI-69811340121678/?spt=hs&or=tn

Hmm supposedly he has not been seen since being kicked out of the social housing on 06/19. I can't believe they didn't arrest him for fraud!
 
That was funny Lera! Serially (seriously) funny! Hi 5!
 
Forest Boy flees to a fast food joint: Fake 'orphan' who
pretended to have amnesia is found working in Berlin Burger King
(Daily Mail)
• Robin van Helsum claimed to have been living in forest for five years with his father
• Said he had lost memory and had buried his father after the man's sudden death two weeks earlier
• In fact, the troubled youngster had left the Netherlands just days before
• Fled when German authorities wanted to sue him for cost of care and searches to find his family - at least £25,000
• Has now been found working in a Burger King in Berlin
the story at the link
 
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/26/20703638-forest-boy-sentenced-in-40000-fraud-case?lite

'Forest Boy' sentenced in $40,000 fraud case

BERLIN -- A hoaxer known as "Forest Boy" who duped authorities into believing that he'd lived in the German wilderness for years was sentenced to 150 hours of community service on Thursday after reaching a settlement amid fraud allegations.

Robin van Helsum gained worldwide notoriety after he walked into Berlin’s City Hall in 2011 and claimed to be a 17-year-old called "Ray" who had been dwelling in a forest south of the German capital.

He claimed not to know his last name and said he had called the woods home until his father's death following a fall. The "Forest Boy" said he had buried his father but no body has ever been recovered.

However, his story was uncovered as a hoax in June 2012 after his photo was published across Europe. A woman in The Netherlands contacted police to say she recognized the boy as her stepson who had vanished the previous year.

A friend of 'Forest Boy', the Dutch man who hoaxed German authorities for nine months, has shed new light on the troubled background that may have led to his elaborate deceit, in an interview with NBC News.

Van Helsum, who is thought to be 21 years old, was accused of fraud because he had received some 30,000 euros ($40,000) in benefits from German youth authorities.
 

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