BREWER, Maine — A man who was released from federal prison after serving years behind bars for kidnapping and spousal and child abuse found his biological son on Facebook and unsuccessfully attempted to pick him up from Brewer High School last month, officials said Monday.

Diane Caron, Brewer High’s financial secretary, checked the student’s emergency card when the man arrived at the school Nov. 5 but didn’t allow him to leave with the boy because the man’s name wasn’t on the card.

“The safety measures the school has in place worked as they were supposed to,” Brewer Police Chief Perry Antone said Monday. “It’s a credit to the staff and the system they have in place there.”

The name of the man who attempted to pick up his son was not released because he committed no crime in trying to do so, Antone said.

The family involved is scared to death, Superintendent Daniel Lee said Monday.

“They came up here to hide from him,” he said.

Brian Doyle, Brewer High’s assistant principal, wrote a letter to Lee formally commending Caron’s actions

The incident “could have had a very different ending had she not been so attentive and thorough,” he said.

The man had recently been “paroled from federal prison where he had been for the last eight years, for charges of child-spousal abuse and kidnapping,” Doyle wrote. “He had actually grabbed the boy from his elementary school years earlier, and eluded law enforcement for four days with him, prior to his arrest which led to his ultimate incarceration.”

Doyle said the boy’s mother let a protection from abuse order lapse because the father was incarcerated and “unfortunately she was never informed of his release, so she never thought to inform us.”

The boy’s mother, who has remarried, moved to Brewer in an attempt to hide from the man, Doyle said in the letter.

“It was only through the son’s Facebook page that he located them,” he said.

The student’s Facebook page listed where he was attending school, Doyle said.

That information made it easy for his father to find him. The second anyone posts an item on an Internet site such as Facebook, it essentially becomes public information, Antone warned.

“People need to understand that anytime you post anything on the Internet, it’s no longer private information,” he said. “Through research, they can find out where people are.

“People need to guard their information, particularly if you’re in the position where you don’t want people to know where you live or where you’re at,” Antone added.

City Councilor Larry Doughty said Monday he is impressed with Caron’s attentiveness.

“She deserves a medal,” he said.

Doughty said two lessons can be learned from the incident: the importance of updating school department records and the need for parents to provide guidance when their children join social networking sites on the Internet.

“Keep that information current and watch what your kids are putting on Facebook,” he said.

Doyle ended his letter by praising Caron’s actions.

“It is just another example of how we are fortunate to have Diane working with us at Brewer High School,” he said.

Copyright (c) 2010, Bangor Daily News, Maine

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