Tech Entrepreneur Sought in Son's Disappearance Arrested In New York Michael Streko was caught after reportedly asking children for drugs. His son was found unharmed.
By Ray Hennessey Edited by Dan Bova
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The tech entrepreneur wanted by police in New Jersey after he disappeared with his wife and son has been arrested, and his son has been found unharmed.
Michael Streko, a co-founder of social-media marketing firm KnowEm, and his wife Amy were arrested Friday in Port Jervis, N.Y., after someone reported a suspicious male "asking children for drugs," according to N.J. Advanced Media. The caller noted that the person was in an RV.. Police had been looking for Streko in his Winnebago, which Streko had planned to use to launch a video series.
Streko's 8-year-old son, Everett, was found in the RV. The Strekos do not have custody of Everett, though it's unclear why they lost custody. Everett was united with his grandmother, who has legal custody and reported his disappearance to local police when he disappeared earlier this month, authorities said.
Both Michael and his wife were charged with third-degree custodial interference, though authorities say they plan to upgrade those charges.
Related: Tech Entrepreneur Sought in Connection With N.J. Kidnapping Case
Streko's disappearance, which made national headlines, was thought to be related to a Kickstarter campaign he launched to fund a roadtrip to meet other entrepreneurs across the country. Though the campaign page was removed from Kickstarter, a ReportCrowd screenshot shows the couple planned to visit several cities, interview people for a video web series and then ask whomever they met where they should go next.
They also planned to sell porkroll sandwiches out of the RV to make money, according to the page. The "On the Road With the Strekos" campaign apparently received just $557 of its $25,000 goal when it expired last month.
According to his LinkedIn page, Streko has been a marketing consultant recently after more than five years as co-founder and in various roles at KnowEm, which focuses on brand-jacking and social-media identity theft. Streko is no longer associated with KnowEm, company officials have said.
Prior to KnowEm, worked in search marketing for KGM Direct and ACTickets.com.
More recently, Streko founded DigitalCamper.com, a web-marketing firm for the RV market. The company's web page claims a summer tour around the country is starting to market the site.
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