No sign of brothers, abducted children

WESTCHESTER, Calif. Police are looking for John Silah and his brother George Silah, who both failed to return their sons to their ex-wives after a parental visit. The mothers have custody of the boys.

Click here for a slideshow of the missing children and their two fathers

The LAPD said it uncovered evidence of a scam operation in the brothers' home where the boys were last seen. Police believe the men were conning members of their own Armenian community and may have enemies.

John Silah operated a real-estate consulting business and his brother George Silah had a check-cashing operation.

They abandoned their Westchester rental property where police found an empty gun case and evidence of an operation to make fake identification.

"He is running away from the Armenian mafia, so I am afraid my son will be caught in between two fires," said Chrstine Jeanbart, mother of abducted 9-year-old son Greg Silah. "And that is why I am panicking at this point."

Inside the house, police found documents in a shredder: photos of immigrants, passport applications, her husband's current driver's license.

"I know that they are running away with a lot of money, thousands and millions of dollars," Jeanbart said.

Greg left for a parental visitation with his father and hasn't been seen since.

"Greg, it's mommy," Jeanbart said. "Sweetie, I am going to come and get you, no matter what. Just hold on tight."

Just as frantic was the mother of Greg's cousins, 8-year old Zaven and 12-year-old Alexander.

"My worst fear is that they are in pain, they are unhealthy, they're worried, they don't understand what's going on," said Zanni Meguerian.

The boys' fathers are wanted by LAPD on suspicion of child abduction.

The ex-wives believe the men are in cars stolen from people in Glendale. There's information that George Silah crossed the border into Mexico days before the boys disappeared, but then returned to the U.S.

"I don't know where they are in this world, I don't know if they're still in the country, or out of the country, and what they must be thinking and going through is really what hurts and what makes me really worried and concerned," said Meguerian.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of this family, you're asked to call LAPD detectives at Pacific Division: (310) 482-6313.

The ex-wives say the two men are very friendly, very sociable. They say they're also very deceptive. LAPD tells Eyewitness News the men are simply con artists.

Eyewitness News reporter Melissa MacBride contributed to this report.

 

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