Missing Ohio driver, 88, found safe hundreds of miles away

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KINGSTON, Pa. (AP) — An older Ohio man who went missing after he told family members he was taking his antique pickup truck in for service was found safe several hundred miles away in Pennsylvania.

Police stopped the truck, a 1946 Hudson, in Kingston just before 9 p.m. Monday, mainly because the driver was only going about 5-10 mph down the middle of the road. Officers soon learned the driver, Fred Lorenz, 88, of Leroy Township had been reported missing that day in Lake County, Ohio.

The (Wilkes-Barre) Citizens’ Voice reports that Lorenz told police he remembered driving on mostly rural back roads during his 350-mile drive that landed him in Kingston. He also told them he wanted to continue traveling and asked where the nearest gas station was.

“He told us he was going to have the truck worked on and he got lost and he kept driving. He said he gassed up three times,” Kingston police officer Tom McTague told the newspaper. “He thought he was in Ohio. I’m like, ‘No, bud. You are in Pennsylvania.’”

After being evaluated at a hospital, Lorenz was released to a family member from Philadelphia. A son from Ohio later picked him up in Philadelphia, authorities said.

While police were told Lorenz has medical problems, including dementia, the man “had his wits about him” and was very cooperative, McTague said.

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