To the residents of Perrysburg, Ohio, his classmates, and the families who took him in, Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra seemed to be a 16-year-old victim of human trafficking.
There was just one problem: he was actually 24—and already a father to a baby with his ex-fiancée in nearby Toledo.
His deception had gone undetected for over a year, aided by a doctored birth certificate that made him appear six years younger.
Then one night, everything changed when Evelyn Camacho, 22, the mother of his daughter, called the home where he was staying.
Anthony Labrador-Sierra as a teenager entering the United States in 2019.
His new guardians, a couple in their 60s, Kathy and Brad Mefferd, answered the call.
“I was questioning what the truth was,” said Evelyn Camacho. “Did he lie to me about being an adult? Or did he lie to them about being a child? I didn’t know what was going on. And I care about him. He’s the father of my daughter,” she told The Post.
The Mefferds contacted the school, which alerted the police. A search of his room uncovered a burner cellphone, a fake ID, a semiautomatic pistol, and three loaded 9mm magazines, according to an arrest affidavit.
Labrador-Sierra has since pleaded guilty to lying on immigration forms and on a firearm purchase application.
Evelyn Camacho and her daughter. Anthony Labrador-Sierra, who posed as a 16-year-old orphan, is the girl’s father.
He has been turned over to ICE and faces decades in prison.
Why did he do it? “That’s a great question,” Camacho, a U.S. citizen, told The Post.
“Probably only he knows why he did it. And maybe not even him, to be honest. Anthony is impulsive.”
The case has shaken the 25,000-resident town, leaving many to wonder how easily Labrador-Sierra was able to deceive authorities.
Anthony Labrador-Sierra being questioned by police.
“People were shocked, for sure,” a soccer mom whose son attended Perrysburg High School and knew Labrador told The Post. “We live in a somewhat conservative area. Some people were like, ‘Holy moley. How did he get past [school officials]?’”
A statement from Perrysburg Schools read in part:
“We’ve reviewed our enrollment process and confirmed we followed federal law. Schools are required to immediately enroll unaccompanied minors without standard enrollment paperwork. While not required, the school district also obtained a birth certificate.”
According to a report from the Perrysburg Police Division, Anthony Labrador’s saga began on November 1, 2023, when he called Perrysburg Schools to inquire about enrolling as a student.
Anthony Labrador-Sierra holds a U.S. visa showing his correct date of birth. He reported being homeless, an immigrant from Venezuela, and a victim of human trafficking, and expressed a desire to study in the United States.
On January 13, 2024, he met with school officials and presented a birth certificate indicating he was born on December 2, 2007, though the issuing country is unknown.
He moved in with the Mefferd family, who have four children, on March 24, 2024, and they were granted permanent guardianship of him in November 2024.
An Ohio driver’s license showing Anthony Labrador-Sierra’s true date of birth, revealing he had been posing as a teenager.
To the outside world, Labrador-Sierra appeared to be just another high school student finding refuge in the small town.
According to a soccer mom whose son played on the varsity team—Labrador, shockingly, only made JV—he blended in and was well liked. “He was very charismatic and very nice,” she said. “In hindsight, he had a different build than the average teenager. He was a little more mature than the others.”
He also had obvious tattoos, but they didn’t raise alarm. When one family hosted a dinner for the school’s soccer players, Labrador was invited, and nothing seemed out of place.
Yet Ohio State Representative Haraz N. Ghanbari believes the school should have done more to verify his story.
“Customs and Border Patrol should have been involved in investigating the trafficking allegations,” he told The Post, noting it would have helped confirm the teen’s legitimacy while protecting him.
“They could have taken his biometrics, which would have instantly revealed that the birthdate he claimed didn’t match official records.”
Camacho tracked Labrador-Sierra down through mutual contacts, though she never intended for him to end up in custody.
“What really upsets me,” she said, “is that I was struggling so much to raise our daughter while he was living the life of a teenager with no responsibilities. He was being taken care of while I was trying to take care of our daughter.”
