Error File not found, cakephp 3.0

I am using the cakephp framework on Amazon Web Services. I am trying to open and read a file using this code -

$pic_file = new File(WWW_ROOT . 'fb_profile_pics' . DS . $path . h($user->user_id) . '.txt'); $fb_pic = $pic_file->read(true,'rb');

the WWW_ROOT var above is - /var/app/current/webroot/

The fb_profile_pics folder(location of file) is in the webroot folder in my cakephp application. I am not able to read this file and cannot figure what is wrong. Any help to get me going again would be awesome.