Missing Child May Have Used Alias on Trip

A 6-year-old Lake View Terrace boy who had been reported missing for five days may have sneaked onto a bus bound for a campground in Malibu Canyon by using the name of another child, organizers of the camping trip speculated Tuesday.

J.B. McNickles, who had been reported missing by his foster parents last Wednesday, returned home safely Monday from a camping trip at the Salvation Army’s Camp Gilmore.

“Evidently, there was a no-show and this boy . . . took another boy’s place,” said Joe Noland, general secretary for the Southern California Division of the Salvation Army.

When the name of the boy who did not go on the camping trip was called, J.B. may have assumed his identity, Noland said. “What happened after that point, I’m still trying to sort out,” he said.

Noland said he has not talked to the counselor in charge of J.B.’s group at the camp.

Leroy Chase, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley, which along with the Salvation Army organized the camping trip, said J.B. sneaked onto the bus.

“Our director did not see him in the vehicle,” Chase said of J.B. “Somehow he walked around, got on the bus and didn’t say anything. This kid was definitely hiding.”

3 Checkpoints

Noland said J.B. managed to slip by three checkpoints. He said the names of all the children were called before they boarded two buses bound for the camp, again after they boarded and again when they arrived at the camp.

Still, Chase and Noland agreed that the club and the Salvation Army are responsible for the mix-up. “We have a big responsibility,” Noland said. “We try to do the best we can. Sometimes mistakes are made.”

Chase said: “We were just as concerned as everyone else for the safety of this youngster.”

They said extra precautions will be taken to ensure that no similar incident occurs.

“Fortunately, it turned out OK this time,” Noland said. “Another time it might not.”

J.B. was dropped off by his foster father, Odell Williams, at the Boys & Girls Club in the 11200 block of Glenoaks Boulevard shortly before noon last Wednesday, Los Angeles olice said.

Instead of going inside the club, J.B. managed to get on a van taking a group of children from the club to a pickup point about 2 miles away, where they boarded the buses bound for the campground. When the buses left, J.B. was aboard one of them.

J.B.’s foster parents called police after they arrived to pick him up at the club about 5 p.m. and could not find him.

A police command post was set up at the family’s house and officers began searching the neighborhood, going door-to-door, distributing flyers and pictures of the youngster.

When the buses returned Monday, J.B. got off one of them. A neighbor recognized the boy and returned him to his foster parents, Odell and Edna Williams.