A man who escaped a Massachusetts prison on Tuesday was back in custody hours later, police said.
"Kevin O’Brien, the inmate who walked away from Pondville Correctional Center this morning, has been LOCATED and is IN CUSTODY," Walpole police said in a Facebook post that also thanked the public for helping to raise awareness while O'Brien was at large.
The 72-year-old was found in Foxborough about 6:45 p.m. by Department of Correction investigators, according to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. O'Brien is being charged with escaping a correctional facility in Wrentham District Court.
It wasn't immediately clear how the 72-year-old was tracked down after he'd walked away from the Pondville Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility on Industries Drive in Norfolk, around 10 a.m. Tuesday. When officials realized he was gone, police in several communities released alerts warning residents about O'Brien.
The Massachusetts Department of Correction earlier said O'Brien was last seen on the grounds of the prison around 9:30 a.m. Officials at the facility conducting a routine check discovered he had not returned around 11 a.m. Video footage viewed by investigators showed him leaving the track area of the facility and walking into the nearby woods around 10 a.m.
O'Brien has been serving a sentence for stealing a vehicle.
There was an increased law enforcement presence in the area, including state and local police, K9s and drones, and anyone who saw O'Brien had been asked to call 911 immediately.
"Obviously, he was sentenced to a state prison facility so there’s some level of concern with that. His age and the fact that Pondville is a minimum-security prison kind of brings that level down. But obviously we want people to be vigilant," Walpole Police Chief Rich Kelleher said while O'Brien was still at large.
