Former Chaboya Advanced Pre-Algebra teacher has been FOUND (updated)

From today's San Jose Mercury News

Police re-issue urgent alert for missing Campbell man

By Lisa Fernandez

Mercury News
Posted: 07/02/2009 06:13:57 AM PDT
Updated: 07/02/2009 11:55:55 AM PDT

Campbell police have issued an updated urgent alert regarding a missing Campbell man with severe dementia who has not been seen for more than a day and who is likely wandering around without his medications.

Ross Abinanti, 63, was with his family Tuesday about 7 p.m. in downtown Campbell at a parking structure on North Second Street and Civic Center Drive when he somehow got separated from his group, police said.

He hasn't been seen since then and police suspect he probably hasn't eaten or had anything to drink.

Abinanti is described as a white man, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 270 pounds. He was last seen wearing a plain white baseball cap, a dark gray polo-style shirt with vertical stripes, khaki shorts, white socks and tennis shoes. He should also be wearing a medical alert bracelet with his name on it, and which also has a GPS unit for easy tracking.

On Tuesday, Santa Clara County Sheriff Sgt. Rick Sung said that the department's Star One helicopter crew from the Special Operations Unit was called out about 8:45 p.m. to search for Abinanti. Sung said authorities got a "ping" on the location on the bracelet at Interstate 280 and Meridian Avenue, but still had no luck finding Abinanti.

If anyone finds Abinanti, they should call Campbell police at 408-866-2101.

How sad. I urge everyone, ESPECIALLY Chaboya alumni, to pitch in and help. There was a citizen's search today according to a Craigslist.

I had Abinanti for math during the 2003-2004 year, when I was in 7th grade. He was a cool teacher, and since having him I've succeeded in math throughout high school. I got straight A's in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, and a 5 on the AP Calculus AB and BC exams.

Given his medical condition, if he's missing for so long (unless he found his way back home, in which case the search would be called off) I suppose he might end up like...(choke) Michael Jackson? (If you've been sleeping all summer, yes, the singer/acquitted child molester Michael Jackson is no longer with us.)

Tardy update (8/18/09): Abinanti was found alive on the evening of Friday, July 10 in Saratoga, specifically at a dry creekbed behind Jake's Pizzeria. A little league team eating dinner at the restaurant found Abinanti. Currently he's in hospital recovering.