Rumors of Jeffrey Ake's Release

From the Herald-Argus:

Rumors but no new info

By COLLEEN MAIR —

LAPORTE — Widespread rumors began circulating around town this week that LaPorte businessman Jeffrey Ake is safe in Iraq where he was abducted nearly two months ago.

The Ake family says as far as they know the reports are not true.

“There is no new information that they know of, but they are looking into it,” said a family friend who returned a phone call to the Herald Argus on behalf of the family Wednesday afternoon.

The man, who asked not to be named, said the family wanted the community to know what was going on, “because everyone has been so caring,” since Ake’s disappearance April 11.

The Ake family has remained silent since the 47-year-old CEO and president of Equipment Express in Rolling Prairie was reportedly abducted from a water treatment plant near Baghdad.

His company was contracted in 2003 to build a system to manufacture, label and package water bottles in Iraq to be distributed to the war-torn country. The company also built a machine that fills containers with cooking oil to be used by Iraqis.

The U.S. Embassy would not confirm or deny Wednesday if Ake had been freed by his captors.

“There is no new information I can release,” said State Department Spokesman Edgar Vasquez.

FBI spokeswoman Wendy Osborne said the bureau is still investigating the case.

The last news of Ake came two days after he was reportedly taken from Baghdad when the Al-Jazeera television network released video of the father of four sitting at a desk holding a passport and a family photo, pleading for his life as three masked gunmen surrounded him.