Manchester, NH (AP)  -- A sexual offender who recently was released from the state mental hospital is back in custody in Manchester, New Hampshire, charged with assaulting two children who were playing in a yard.

Manchester police say they were looking Wednesday evening for 49-year-old Terry Preston in connection with two thefts when they received reports of a sexual assault in progress. They say a man they identified as Preston approached a group of children in a yard and began to sexually assault one youngster. Investigators say the other kids intervened and Preston assaulted a second child, then ran off after an adult confronted him.

Preston was arrested later in the evening.