SPENCER — The Spencer Police Department says a town resident who was reported missing earlier this week wasn’t actually missing. He has been hospitalized.

A Silver Alert was issued Tuesday afternoon for Richard Lee Wallace, 64, by the Police Department through the N.C. Center for Missing Persons. It was canceled Thursday morning.

Police Chief Michael James said Wallace was hospitalized at the Hefner VA Medical Center and later taken to a hospital in Winston-Salem. The person who reported him missing did not know he was in the hospital, James said.

Wallace, who is believed to be suffering from dementia or other cognitive impairment, was last known to be at a South Salisbury Avenue apartment, according to the Silver Alert notice.

— Shavonne Walker