WATERLOO -- Police are seeking people who may have donated memorial payments to a Waterloo family who submitted an obituary for a son that wasn't dead.

A man identifying himself as the father of Dan Reddout dropped off an obit at the Courier for the 17-year-old Waterloo boy Dec. 30.

It claimed Reddout died Dec. 24 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., from complications during surgery.

The obituary ran in the Dec. 31 newspaper, and acquaintances of the teen reported seeing him alive later that night at a downtown restaurant.

One woman who used to work with Reddout at the restaurant contacted police and the newspaper about the matter Tuesday.

The Olmsted County Medical Examiner, who is also a doctor at Mayo, said no one by that name died at the clinic recently.

Waterloo police said they confirmed Tuesday Reddout is a live and well.

Now officers are asking for the public's help.

"If anybody did memorials, then we would like to know that," said Capt. Bruce Arends. "That would constitute a fraud."

It wasn't clear if anyone had made memorials, but the obituary asked that memorials be directed to the family.

Reddout's mother, Mary Jo Jensen, told the Courier the whole matter was a case of miscommunication.

She said she told her boyfriend, James Snyder, that Reddout was very sick at a local hospital and jokingly said he died.

From that, according to Jensen's account, Snyder decided to submit the obituary, which included details such as a Dec. 27 graveside service at a cemetery in Osage.

She said she learned of the obit from Reddout's grandparents in Iowa City and was unable to reach the Courier by phone over the holiday weekend to make a correction.

No phone messages from Jensen were left about the obituary until Tuesday after a reporter looking into the veracity of the obit left his card on her door.

Because of the false obituary, the Courier will now require that any death notice or obituary submitted directly by a family member or friend to be verified with official documentation or the name of a funeral home or organization responsible for the services.

Neither the death notice nor the obituary will be published until that information has been provided, under the policy.

The Courier is billing Snyder $50 for the obituary. All obituaries are paid for, and he requested extra information be included, so he was billed higher than the $35 normal fee.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.