LEWISTON – A local man accused of trying to fly out of California with a 14-year-old girl he had met on the Internet earlier this month is in more trouble with police.

Police said a search of Daniel Fecteau’s computer revealed the Lewiston man has been corresponding with young girls across the country and that he was keeping sexual photographs of some of them.

The 49-year-old was being held in a California jail Wednesday night on bail set at $250,000.

Arrested at the Sacramento International Airport July 3, Fecteau was originally charged with child abduction and burglary. He has since been slapped with a charge of kidnapping with intent to commit a sex crime.

Investigators said earlier this month, Fecteau flew to Sacramento and lured a young girl to the airport after maintaining a relationship with her for months over the Web.

Police began searching for the girl after her mother reported her missing July 2. Fecteau was found at the airport with the girl shortly before the pair was scheduled to fly back to Maine, police said.

He has remained at the Stanislaus County Jail since he was arrested. Investigators in Modesto contacted Lewiston police about the arrest and the two departments began working together.

In Lewiston, officers from the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force gained permission to search Fecteau’s home. There, investigators said they found the names of other young girls with whom Fecteau had been in contact. The evidence surfaced in the form of computer files as well as hand-written notes and ledgers, police said.

Modesto police Detective Ray Coyle said Fecteau had been corresponding with more than a dozen girls across the country. All but one of them was under the age of 16. Police said after establishing a relationship with the girls, Fecteau would begin calling them and trying to arrange meetings.

“He was telling them he was 17 years old,” Coyle said. “I’ve talked to several young ladies who said they had a hard time getting rid of him. A couple of them had to change their phone numbers.”

Lewiston Police officer Scott Bradeen, an investigator with the MCCTF, searched Fecteau’s home once the suspect granted permission. Bradeen has since sent components of Fecteau’s computer to investigators in Modesto. The computer is now being examined there by computer forensic specialists, according to Coyle.

Police said the images found on Fecteau’s computer constitute a crime in Maine. If it is learned that the photos were obtained through the Internet, he will be charged additionally in Modesto as well, Coyle said.

The 14-year-old girl who was found at the airport with Fecteau earlier this month told police the suspect had told her through computer conversations that he was 17. She was not hurt during the ordeal and was later turned over to the custody of her parents.

Fecteau, an unemployed truck driver when he was arrested in Modesto, was a trained emergency medical technician who used to work locally for ACT Ambulance Service. He does not have a criminal record in Maine.

Coyle, who arrested Fecteau, said he was told the suspect borrowed a car and money to arrange his trip to California earlier this month. There was no indication Fecteau was prepared to come up with the $250,000 bail set shortly after his arrest.

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