AUBURN – Two Brunswick Naval Air Station men have been charged with having sex with two underage teenage girls.

Police say 20-year-old Airman Nicholas Greaves met a 15-year-old Lewiston High School student online. Both had pages on MySpace.com, a social networking Web site, and the pair began chatting. They arranged to meet on Aug. 28 in Pettengill Park.

Greaves brought a friend, 22-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class James Hogan.

The girl also brought a friend, a 14-year-old who attends Edward Little High School.

An Auburn officer spotted the men’s car during a nightly patrol of the park. He said he found Greaves and the 14-year-old having sex inside. He then discovered Hogan and the 15-year-old nearby and, after questioning the couple, determined they had also been having sex.

Police believe both cases were consensual. It is unclear whether anyone – the girls or the men – lied about their ages.

Greaves and Hogan were each charged with sexual abuse of a minor. Greaves was immediately arrested because the officer caught him having sex with the girl, according to Auburn Lt. Jason Moen. Greaves was later released on bail.

Hogan was charged but not arrested because he wasn’t caught in the act, Moen said.

Sexual abuse of a minor is a misdemeanor. If convicted, the men face up to a year in jail.

Greaves works on the Brunswick base as an aircraft mechanic, according to base spokesman John James. He is now being released from active duty.

“Either partly or fully because of this,” James said.

Hogan works in administration. He has not faced any Navy sanctions. The base spokesman was not aware that Hogan had also been charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

But, he said, “We’re cooperating fully with civilian authorities.”

James did not immediately know whether the men lived on base or off.

This is the second time this summer that Auburn police have arrested a man they say chatted with a teenage girl online and then met her in person for sex. Matthew Gulino, 23, of Byfield, Mass., was arrested in July after police say he met a 13-year-old Maine girl in an online chat room, lured her into a meeting and then had sex with her in his car. He was charged with gross sexual assault and solicitation of a child by computer to commit a prohibited act.

Auburn officers have started warning parents and teenagers about the dangers of online predators. A school resource officer spoke to parents about the issue during freshman orientation last week, and the police department plans to hold a community forum on Internet safety in October.

Moen advises teens never to meet in person anyone they’ve met online. If they are determined to meet, he advises them to bring a parent along.

He advises parents to keep home computers in open places, such as the living room. He tells them to randomly check the machine’s Internet history and randomly check their children’s Web pages. He also tells parents to talk with their children about the dangers.

“You never know who’s on the other end of the keyboard,” he said.