"So he gets on the phone to daddy and says "hep me, I really screwed up"
"And so the father concocts the cover story goes over there to make sure sunny is ok and they benefit from the whole thing publicity wise."
Good possibility.
OR
Sonny boy continues on his American journey, gets a top notch education, and continues along the hardline path...
Wonder if we'll ever know. Thanks for finding and posting this info. I do have more questions now, though and I'm hoping someone is keeping an "eye" on young Farris....
There is always the possibility, since this is speculative, that the correct explanation is the one offered by Hassan, however given the pieces which don't fit that story I think Kaufman and Rabinowitz' piece is pretty close to the truth.
We were not able to identify which Mosque he spent the night in before his journey, which might make the story even more compelling...