By Mary O’KEEFE

The smiling face of a young boy can be seen on flyers posted on lampposts along Honolulu Avenue. He is described as blonde with brown eyes and 6-feet tall with a slim build.

The 16-year-old boy is not from the area but was in Montrose visiting family at the time of his disappearance.

“He had a drug problem (in the past). I confronted him and asked to look in his backpack,” his grandfather said. The two were traveling in a truck on Honolulu Avenue. “When I stopped the truck, he bailed.”

The boy was last seen on Feb. 28 at 9 a.m. His grandfather, a former Los Angeles police officer, and his wife had been given custody of the boy.

“He was in some trouble with drugs when he lived in Nebraska. I [helped] get him out of trouble and was given temporary custody,” the grandfather added.

The boy was living with his grandparents in Las Vegas. In February they came to Montrose to visit family.

The Montrose family has been putting the flyers up around the area hoping that someone may have seen the boy.

The last two weekends the boy’s father and grandmother traveled to Los Angeles and hung posters of the 16-year-old in Venice.

This week the family received calls from Venice residents telling them they had seen a boy matching the description in the area. They feel he is in the Venice area because of the reported sightings and that all the posters that the family hung last weekend have been taken down.

The family assumes the boy took down the posters.

“It does appear he may be in Venice,” Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

The Glendale police are aware of the boy’s disappearance and have circulated the flyers.

The family is worried and would like any information on the boys whereabouts. He will turn 17 in April.

Anyone with information can contact the Glendale Police Department at (818) 548-4911 or call the family at (702) 580-0429.

  missing, runaway teen