By ,
Published November 21, 2015
Prosecutors in Colorado have charged the adoptive parents of two missing brothers with theft and forgery.
Fifty-eight-year-old Edward Bryant and 54-year-old Linda Bryant are accused of collecting nearly $175,000 in government payments for the care of the boys, even though the children haven't been in their household for years.
The Bryants allegedly told authorities that the boys, Austin Eugene Bryant and Edward Dylan Bryant, had run away in 2003, when they would have been 7 and 11 years old. Officials say the parents have given conflicting information. Authorities learned of their disappearance this year, and the boys are still missing.
Prosecutors filed the charges Thursday as the Bryants made their first court appearance since being arrested in Texas last week.
They both wore orange jail jumpsuits and their hands were cuffed behind them. Bail has been set at $1 million each.
Law enforcement sources told FoxNews.com last week that the boys haven't been seen for at least 10 years. Colorado Springs sheriff's spokeswoman Lari Sevene said in an interview that the boys had been living with their adoptive parents in the Monument area north of Colorado Springs. The boys were enrolled in a school but had been taken out to be home-schooled, Sevene said.
Authorities are trying to determine how the whereabouts of the boys went unnoticed for up to a decade.
"That’s part of what we’re trying to determine -- to see why that wasn't reported," Sevene said. "There are a lot of questions that need to be answered."
Edward and Linda Bryant were arrested in Texas and extradited to Colorado last week.
Sevene said the investigation began when the The El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Colorado received a "suspicious incident report" on Jan. 22 involving the disappearance of Austin Bryant. &
Upon further investigation, authorities found that Austin was last seen some time between 2003 and 2005. Investigators then discovered that a second child, identified as Edward Dylan Bryant, was also unaccounted for. Edward is believed to be missing since as early as 2001.
The Bryants lived in the Monument area north of Colorado Springs between 1999 and 2005. Edward Bryant was living in Denton, Texas, at the time of his arrest, while Linda Bryant was living in Gainesville, Texas.
Anyone with information on the boys is being asked to call the El Paso County Sheriff's Office at 719-390-5555.
FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin and the Associated Press contributed to this report
https://www.foxnews.com/us/theft-forgery-charges-filed-against-adoptive-parents-of-missing-colorado-boys