Problems At Shawn Hornbeck Foundation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CN) - The State of Missouri says the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation continues to operate even though the Secretary of State's office ordered it to shut down late last year.

Shawn Hornbeck was abducted in 2002 when he was 11. His rescue from kidnapper Michael Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment in January 2007 created international headlines.

Hornbeck's parents, Pam and Craig Akers of Richwoods, Mo., started the foundation in January 2003 to help prevent child abduction and help search for lost or missing children. But the foundation, operating out of the Akers' home, failed to file an annual report that was due in August 2007. On Dec. 27, the state revoked the foundation's business permit.

But the foundation appears to have carried on business as usual. In April, the foundation's Team Hornbeck Racing displayed six new cars for this season's dirt track season. The cars race throughout the Midwest; 30 photographs of Missouri missing children are to appear on the cars throughout the season. The foundation will also appear at a child safety fair at the Chapel of the Cross Lutheran Church in St. Peters, Mo., on May 31, according to the foundation's Web site.

Secretary of State spokesman Ryan Hobart said the state has contacted the foundation, which is in the process of getting its paperwork in order for reinstatement. The state dissolved the foundation in January 2006 for similar paperwork issues, but the foundation was reinstated within two months.

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