When the teen apparently vanished, his mother told police that she received a text from him which alleged that four Hispanic men had shot him before bundling him into a white van and driving away.

Before he vanished, local reports indicate that he was seen wearing a red “MAGA” hat.

Cops located his car near Marion County Airport, 80 miles from Orlando, and issued an Amber Alert to find the teen.

The teenager was later found “alive and well” on September 26.

However, Billy Woods, the Marion County Sheriff, now claims that the crime was an elaborate “hoax” devised by Speight.

In a social media video, Woods conceded that there were “red flags” early on in the case.

According to him, Speight “simply rode away towards Williston while the rest of us were left to think the worst, and my team was working in overdrive to solve this case.”

To continue the ruse, Caden, who had a handgun with him since the beginning of all of this, chose to shoot himself in the leg.

“There is zero chance that Caden’s gunshot wound came from any type of assailant,” he added.

An investigation involving local, state, and federal agencies found that Speight purchased a bicycle, a tent, and camping supplies before disappearing.