Virtually all of us have told a white lie or two in our time, and likely never more often than when we were young. Bending truths and telling fibs to stay out of trouble is part of growing up, after all, and it can take years before we fully appreciate that honesty is a quality to aspire to.

Yet I’m fairly certain there won’t be many of our readers who ever went to the same spurious lengths as Caden Speight, a 17-year-old who was reported missing in late September.

We reported on Caden at the time of his perceived disappearance. The teen vanished shortly after sending his mother alarming text messages claiming he had been “shot” and referencing four Hispanic men and a “white van.” He was reportedly seen wearing a MAGA hat before his disappearance.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting in Dunnellon and soon discovered Caden’s car abandoned by the highway. Inside, they found his mobile phone broken in half.

The disturbing details led to a large-scale search effort. Helicopters, ground units and local appeals were deployed as investigators worked under the assumption that the teenager might have been kidnapped.

His mother, we can only imagine, was beside herself with worry. That was until she learned that he had concocted the whole “kidnapping” story himself.

Fortunately for Caden, he turned up the next day. Unfortunately for Caden, his rather bizarre web of lies began to unravel immediately.

“His claims that he had been shot and abducted were quickly disproven,” asserted Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods in a Facebook update. “We then learned that he had purchased a bicycle, tent, and camping supplies just prior to him reporting this.”

It turned out that Caden had actually shot himself in a bid to prolong the authorities’ search.

“Caden simply rode away towards Williston while the rest of us were left to think the worst and my team was working in overdrive to solve this case,” Woods continued.

“To continue the ruse, Caden, who had a handgun with him since the beginning of all of this, chose to shoot himself in the leg, causing a non-life-threatening injury just prior to walking out to the roadway where he would be located by citizens in Williston.

“There is ZERO chance that Caden’s gunshot wound came from any type of assailant.”

Woods also revealed that the teen may end up facing charges for his hoax.

“I can tell you those items are not off the table at this point,” the sheriff said.

“Right now, we are still processing all of the evidence in this case, and I don’t want to make any statements on that until we have fully examined it all.”