PERRSYBURG, Ohio — The superintendent of the Perrysburg Exempted Village School District confirmed a 24-year-old man was posing as a teenager at a high school.
Anthony Labrador enrolled at Perrysburg High School under the name and age of a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor in Jan. 2024, according to Superintendent Thomas Hosler. Hosler added the enrollment was in accordance with federal and state requirements for students experiencing homelessness or who don't have a legal guardian.
Hosler said while Labrador was enrolled between Jan. 11, 2024 and May 14, 2025, he was able to provide the following documentation, which Hosler said complicated the situation:
- Ohio driver's license and social security number
- Temporary Protective Status from the U.S. Immigration Department
- Completed and submitted a VISA application with free legal assistance
- Guardianship of a Perrysburg family, granted by Wood County Juvenile Court
The school discovered Labrador's real age when the guardians who had taken responsibility for him called the school district. The guardians said they received information he wasn't a minor, but instead a 24-year-old man. When district administrators met with Labrador May 15 to address the claims, Labrador denied them and said his birth certificate submitted during his enrollment is correct. The birth certificate stated he was 17 at the time of his arrest.
School officials then directed the guardians to keep Labrador off school property to investigate further.
During the investigation, officials found social media posts about Labrador, including from people claiming to be his family. The school district also contacted the Perrysburg Police Division, which also conducted an investigation.
"This case involves highly unusual and deceptive circumstances that impacted many local, state and federal agencies. The school district has reviewed its actions regarding enrollment and is confident proper legal channels were followed to provide support for an individual presenting themselves as an unaccompanied minor as spelled out in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act," said Hosler. "We appreciate our close partnership with the Perrysburg Police Division and the swift action taken."
Additionally, Labrador played in some sports at the school, including the soccer and swim junior varsity teams. The school district reported the incident the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
"Earlier this week, Perrysburg administrators reached out to the OHSAA to report that a student had been enrolled and permitted to play using false identification," OHSAA wrote in a statement. "In 2024, the person provided all the legal documents to Wood County Juvenile Court, including a birth certificate, social security number and an Ohio driver's license, and the court granted guardianship to a Perrysburg family. Perrysburg Schools is investigating this situation and is working with local, state and federal authorities, including the OHSAA. The athletic eligibility piece of this situation is just one part of a larger situation."
Police report details investigation
In an incident report from Ryan Merrow, of Perrysburg Police, he said he was following up on information given by Perrysburg Schools regarding the alllegation that a 24-year-old man was posing as a 17-year-old student at the school.
Labrador contacted the school district on Nov. 1, 2023, wanting to enroll. He claimed to be homeless and a Venezuelan immigrant. He’d also claimed to be the victim of human trafficking.
He met with the school on Nov. 6, 2023, starting the enrollment process. He’d presented a Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela birth certificate on Jan. 8, 2024. It showed a birth date of Dec. 2, 2007. He also told the district he was staying at an address in Toledo.
Aleksandar Cuic is a partner at Brown Immigration Law and a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, and he said a birth certificate is just one thing he'd need.
“I would assume birth certificates, a list showing your residence, some type of form or bill or something that shows you’re actually living within that district," Cuic said. "It sounds like there was a lot of fraud and fraudulent documents that were used.”
He started school on Jan. 19, 2024.
Having previously provided a home to exchange students and adopted children, Kathy and Brad Mefferd were contacted regarding Labrador.
He moved in with them, and they were later granted permanent guardianship through the Wood County Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division.
“During the time that Anthony lived with the Mefferd's, they (assisted) him with getting a social security number and (an) Ohio Driver's License,” the report reads.
That process was made easier after he was granted temporary protected status from the Department of Homeland Security.
"When you get granted TPS from Homeland Security, you file for a work card," Cuic said. "Normally, with that, when you have your work card or your employment, you then can get a social security number. Then with that, in the state of Ohio, you can get your driver’s license.”
Labrador Sierra worked with Advocating Opportunity, an organization that provides free legal advice to complete an application for a Visa. The organization released a statement saying,
“This information is as shocking and new to us as it is to the public. We are working to understand the situation fully and are allowing the appropriate authorities to conduct their investigation.”
Earlier this month, his guardians were contacted by a woman who said her name was Evelyn Camacho. She told them Labrador was actually the 24-year-old father of her child.
“Evelyn then sent the Mefferd's a picture of an Ohio Driver's License and Social Security card under the name Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra,” the report reads. “The driver's license had a birthdate of March 27, 2001. Evelyn also sent pictures from Facebook with herself and Anthony and Anthony with a small child.”
The vehicle owned by Labrador, a 2015 Honda Fit, “was registered to Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra under his old Ohio Driver's License.”
At this point, the officer said in his report that he contacted the United States Border Patrol for assistance.
The man named Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra, born on March 27, 2001, had apparently overstayed in the U.S. after his work visa expired in 2023.
“I then contacted the Wood County Prosecutor's Office and it was decided to charge Anthony with forgery for presenting a forged birth certificate to enroll in school,” the report reads. “I then had an arrest warrant signed out of the Perrysburg Municipal Court on Anthony for forgery. I then contacted Border Patrol and advised them of the warrant. I was advised by Border Patrol that once Anthony was in custody, they would place a detainer on him for the immigration issues.”
He was taken into custody during a traffic stop on May 19, 2025. Here is video of that arrest:
(Courtesy Perrysburg Police Department)
He was taken to the Wood County Jail and booked on felony forgery charges, according to a media release from the City of Perrysburg. The driver of the vehicle was Evelyn Camacho.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and the Perrysburg Police Division is working in concert with our federal partners as well as the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office,” the release reads.
Labrador Sierra pleaded not guilty on May 19. He has a bond set at $50,000 with no 10% allowed. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 29 at the Perrysburg Municipal Court before Judge Matthew Ohanian.
In a press release from the Department of Homeland Security, they announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has "lodged a detainer for a 24-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who posed as a teenager to attend an Ohio high school."
“Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra is a 24-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who has been posing as teenager and attending Perrysburg High School in Ohio,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the release. “Labrador was arrested and charged with forgery by the Perrysburg Ohio Police Department on May 19 for using fake documents to become enrolled in the high school. ICE lodged a detainer to ensure that this criminal illegal alien is removed from this community and no longer able to prey on the students of Perrysburg High School. It is disturbing that a grown man would impersonate a teenager and infiltrate the lives of underage girls and boys to fool them into doing God knows what.”
In the DHS release, they say Labrador has been illegally in the U.S. since March 24, 2020.