Missing 10-Year-Old Is Found Safe; Boy Was Hiding Out at Friend’s House

A 10-year-old Westminster boy who was missing for three days has been found and reunited with his parents, police said Saturday.

William Hugo, 10, who lives in the 100 block of Brookhurst Street, was found by police late Friday after being recognized by a woman who had seen a flyer reporting him missing.

William told police he had been hiding out in the back yard shed of a school friend. The 11-year-old friend, who lives in the 100 block of Hortense Drive in Westminster, also provided William with food from the family kitchen without telling his parents, police said.

William told police he ran away because he didn’t return home Tuesday when he was supposed to. He said he was afraid his parents would punish him by sending him back to Samoa, his parents’ homeland.