RUMFORD — Police spent several hours Wednesday evening searching for an elderly dementia patient who walked out of Rumford Hospital.

The 82-year-old Canton man was returned to the hospital, police Chief Stacy Carter said Thursday morning.

Officers were initially told to watch for a 6-foot-tall man weighing 192 pounds with gray hair and wearing a green-and-red plaid shirt and jeans. But later on, video surveillance was checked and searchers learned the man was wearing a red-andwhite shirt that was primarily red, gray sweatpants, white sneakers and a green ball cap.

Carter also helped his officers with the search, as did Rumford firefighters. The chief said police and firefighters searched the immediate area around the hospital without success from 6 to 10 p.m.

Patrol officers continued the search. The Maine Warden Service was contacted and Warden Norman Lewis brought his tracking dog to the area just before midnight and the search resumed.

Carter said the man was located at 1:10 a.m. Thursday in a wooded area between Franklin Street and Pine Street. The hospital is on Franklin Street.

“A sincere thank-you to all responding first responders and citizens that assisted and remained vigilant,” Carter said.

In other police news, a Kennebec Street resident reported Wednesday that someone stole the mower deck of his tractor from his garage last week. It is valued at $1,000.

On Tuesday, a Rangeley Street resident reported a mountain bike valued at $200 was stolen from Three Fields on Falmouth Street.

On Saturday, Corey David, 22, of Rumford, was arrested on a warrant at 8:35 p.m. on Waldo Street. He was released on $200 cash bail and will be arraigned Sept. 3 in 11th District Court.

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