BOY'S KIDNAPPING MAY BE DRUG-RELATED

Utah residents are being asked to watch for a 6-year-old boy police
believe was kidnapped from Las Vegas as a result of his grandfather's
involvement in the drug trade.

Las Vegas police are now searching for both 6-year-old Cole
Puffinburger and his grandfather, 51-year-old Clemens Tinnemeyer, who
has been missing since May.

Tinnemeyer reportedly owes tens of millions of dollars to a Mexican
drug cartel, Denby said. He allegedly sold cocaine and methamphetamine
as he drove around the country and across the border as a tour guide
and owner of a motor home sight-seeing tour company.

The boy was taken about 7:20 a.m. Wednesday when two armed men
identifying themselves as police officers entered his home, said Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Ramon Denby.

The two ransacked the house and left the boy's mother and her fiance
tied up inside as they escaped in a getaway car driven by a third man.

Tinnemeyer was last seen in Las Vegas in May, but in August contacted
a family member and claimed he was in Tennessee.

"We believe the young boy, Cole, was taken by the Mexican nationals
[to] exchange for the grandfather," Denby said. He would not comment
on whether the boy's other family members were also involved in the
drug trade.

The kidnappers are described as Latino, with heavy accents. One is
described as approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds,
with shoulder-length, slicked-back black hair.

The boy is white, with blond hair and blue eyes. He is 3-feet-11
inches tall and weighs approximately 48 pounds. He also has
"distinctly stained" front teeth and an over-bite, the release states.

He wears silver-rimmed prescription glasses and was last seen wearing
a black T-shirt with W.W.E. John Cena" printed on the front, black
Vans brand tennis shoes, blue jeans with a black belt and a black
hooded sweatshirt with black, white and blue stars on it.

Tinnemeyer is about 5-feet-10 inches tall, weighs 200 pounds with
brown hair and green eyes. He has a four-inch scar on his right knee
and a three-inch scar on his left shoulder.

An Amber Alert has been issued in Nevada for Cole, but authorities are
now looking around the country and internationally, including Utah.

Anyone with information about Cole or Tinnemeyer is asked to call the
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at 702-828-3591 or, to remain
anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.