FLORENCE — The boy who was posted for sale on Craigslist is safe, and police have discovered the posting was a prank.

Police appealed to the public for help in identifying the boy.

“We started getting telephone calls early (Thursday morning) from people giving us the boy’s name,” Florence police Lt. Mike Holt said.

Holt said the boy is an eighth-grade student at Brooks High School.

Police said they were told the boy’s older sister made the post as a joke. The grandmother brought the boy and his sister to the Police Department on Thursday morning.

“I got a call from the grandmother (who said) they would be here to talk, and they were here shortly after that,” Florence police Det. Keith Johnson said.

Johnson said the girl admitted to taking the photo and posting it on Craigslist, which is an online ad site much like a classified section.

“She said they were messing around, and she posted the photo and the ad as a joke,” Johnson said.

He said the post has been deleted from Craigslist.

The post showed the boy’s photo and listed the cost for the boy at $1,200.

“This wasn’t something to be taken lightly, and we put a lot of man hours into this,” Holt said. “We’re glad the boy is OK, and it turned out to be a prank, but it doesn’t need to happen again.”

He said the department worked for more than week trying to identify the boy.

Holt said no charges will be filed, but the boy’s sister was counseled about the seriousness of her actions.

“As far as the Police Department is concerned, this is now over with,” Holt said. “We just wanted to make sure the boy was OK. That was our main concern.”

Johnson said he believes the girl understands how serious the prank was.

“She said she wouldn’t be putting anything else on Craigslist,” he said.

Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.