Convicted sex offender back in custody after walking away from a St. Louis hospital

SHREWSBURY, Mo. (AP) — A man convicted of child sex crimes is back in custody after walking away from a St. Louis hospital, authorities said.

Tommy Wayne Boyd, 45, was transported Wednesday from the Potosi Correctional Facility to Mercy Hospital South for medical treatment. Surveillance video later showed him walking away from the hospital, St. Louis County police said in a news release.

Police urged the public for help finding him, describing him as dangerous, before a special response unit apprehended him Thursday night in the nearby suburb of Shrewsbury.

Online court records show he was sentenced in 1997 in Greene County in the Springfield area to 10 years in prison for first-degree statutory sodomy.

In 2007, jurors in Greene County convicted him of enticement of a child. He was sentenced to 30 years, with court records noting he was a prior offender.

No new charges related to the escape are listed for him in online court records.

His attorney in the 2007 case, Peter Bender, didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.