WATERVILLE — A 10-year-old boy with autism who wandered from his Maple Street home Thursday and was found swimming in a pool on High Street repeated the same excursion Friday morning and again was found in the same pool, unharmed, police said.

On Friday morning, a woman heading to work saw the boy walking on Ticonic Street — before he got to the pool — and called police. She had worked with children with autism and, moments earlier, had read a story in the Morning Sentinel about the boy escaping on Thursday and thought he probably was the same child.

“What is nice about this particular case is that we had an idea of where he might go,” said Chief Joseph Massey, of the Waterville police. “It worked out well.”

Johnna Stotz, a teacher at Educare Central Maine, was on her way to work at 6:20 a.m. Friday and was on Ticonic Street when she said she saw the boy.

“He was just past Juliette’s store,” Stotz said. “He was barefoot and he was in his bathing suit. He had a pretty good pace going. Just this morning I had read online the article about him, and so immediately it just clicked. I said, ‘Oh, my goodness, that must be him.'”

In Thursday’s incident, a woman on High Street heard a splash, looked out and saw a boy in her backyard, above-ground pool. When she tried to coax him out of the pool by talking to him, he repeated her words back to her. Police Officer Dan Brown arrived, and the boy finally got out of the pool but did not reveal his name or address.

Brown took a photo of the boy and sent it to School Resource Officer Damon Lefferts, who did not recognize him; but police also contacted George J. Mitchell School Principal Allan Martin, who did, and they were able to contact the boy’s father on Maple Street.

Sgt. Dan Goss, who on Thursday reunited the boy with his father, immediately went to the pool on High Street on Friday after Stotz called police, according to Massey.

“Sgt. Goss zoomed right up to the residence that had the pool where the young boy went Thursday, and sure enough, the little boy was already in the pool,” Massey said. The woman who rents the home came out and was talking with the boy.

The distance he walked from his Maple Street home to High Street is about three-tenths of a mile, according to police.

The boy’s parents have done everything possible to try to keep the boy inside their home, including installing extra locks and a security alarm system, Massey said; but the boy is resourceful and inquisitive and finds ways to get out.

“I commend them for their efforts to make sure they’re safe,” Massey said.

Carol Beckim, the mother of the woman who rents the home with the pool, said later Friday that she was there on Thursday when the boy was in the water.

“I had him get on the porch and gave him Oreos to keep him from getting back into the pool,” Beckim said. “We’re basically really happy that he’s OK and we know who he is and where he lives and that he’s safe and we made a new friend.”

Massey said the boy’s family, who had moved to Waterville recently, on Thursday had taken an application from police so that the boy could be put into the Police Department’s Wanderers Database; but by Friday, they had not yet submitted a photo and other information about the boy.

The Wanderers Database is a program in which parents or guardians of those who tend to wander, such as people with dementia or autism, submit information about the person so if he or she becomes lost, police will have that information at their fingertips.

Massey commended Stotz for getting involved and calling police when she saw the boy early Friday on Ticonic Street.

“It was absolutely super, and I called her up at 9 o’clock and said, ‘Thank you so much,'” Massey said. “Those types of citizens that get involved allow us to be much more responsive in a much more timely fashion.”

Stotz formerly worked at Woodfords Family Services, which supports children with special needs, and their families.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

Copy the Story Link