WATERVILLE — A juvenile left his home and broke his house arrest order late Wednesday morning, resulting in a more than two-hour search by law enforcement in the North End of the city.

Police received a call at 11:37 a.m. from the boy’s parents, who said he had left home, according to Sgt. Alden Weigelt. He ultimately was found and put into protective custody around 2 p.m. near the intersection of Ticonic and Chaplin streets in a wooded area, where most of the search took place.

Police didn’t release the juvenile’s name and age.

He’d had “difficulty with the legal system” before, Weigelt said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. The juvenile should have been home by legal order.

The responding officers learned that the boy also had “made statements that led them to believe he might harm himself,” Weigelt said.

Initially, an officer sighted him and tried to make contact with him, but the juvenile ran off and the officer lost him.

Waterville police then called in a Maine State Police tracking dog to assist in a search, but that also led to nothing.

Shortly after the dog search was called off, Weigelt said, Detective Joshua Woods saw the juvenile again and chased him for a short time before making contact with him around 2 p.m. The juvenile was brought into protective custody and taken to a local hospital to be evaluated.

Madeline St. Amour – 861-9239

mstamour@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @madelinestamour