MILLINOCKET – Police were investigating Thursday the theft of about $2,000 in cash from a Peddler’s Hill vendor earlier in the week.

The vendor, a Skowhegan-area resident, told police that he was away from his vegetable stand, helping another vendor with his hot dog cart, at about 2:50 p.m. Monday when he saw another man walking away from the vegetable stand and the victim’s vehicle, Sgt. Jerry Cox said Thursday.

Suspicious, the vendor went to the stand and discovered that his money bag was missing, Cox said, while the thief, seeing the vendor’s approach, started running away.

The vendor immediately telephoned police.

Officers cordoned off the area and radioed a description of the thief countywide. A state police officer, Trooper Barry Meserve, and his trained tracking dog, a German shepherd named Semper, searched for the thief with no success.

The thief was described as a white man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall with bushy brown hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, Cox said.

Anyone with information about the thief or theft is asked to call police at 723-9731. All calls will be kept confidential, police said.

Cox said he was unaware of any leads in the case. Detective John Glidden and Officer Steve Kenyon, who are handling the investigation, were off Thursday, as was Police Chief Donald Bolduc, and could not be reached for comment.

Peddler’s Hill is a farmer’s market area off Route 157 near Effie’s Bakery on a large hill between downtown and the area of the former Ames shopping plaza.