Top News Briefs: Timmothy Pitzen Hoax; Chicago vs Smollett

Here are two top news briefs. 

The first — the person yesterday who many thought could be the missing boy, Timmothy Pitzen, was not him. It was a 23-year old man, Brian Rini. It was a hoax. DNA testing confirmed he was a different person. Rini was charged with lying to federal agents and he faces up to 8 years in prison. 

Pitzen’s family said they would never stop looking for him. 

The second news — the city of Chicago wants to force Jussie Smollett to pay a fine of $130,000 for police overtime during the investigation of a hate crime he reported — which police said was a hoax. Chicago also wants him to apologize. 

Smollett’s lawyer said this was harassment and that he will not be intimidated in paying the fine, that they would fight back with legal challenges, but that they prefer this matter to be closed and for him to move on with his life. 

https://www.nbcchicago.com/.../timmothy-pitzen-found-dna...

https://www.cnn.com/.../timmothy-pitzen.../index.html

https://www.usatoday.com/.../jussie-smollett.../3375728002/

https://www.foxnews.com/.../jussie-smollets-attorney...