In his post, Williams said the disclosure put a town elder at risk of identity theft and called it “a blatant disregard for community health and wellness.” He also wrote that the person who shared the post “might have committed a crime” and claimed to have contacted the Honesdale Police Department, the District Attorney, and the State Police.

Williams also wrote that blue markings had been applied to the images “so as not to accentuate any of the original poster’s damaging disclosures.” However, the image he posted still displayed the Name, Address and Social Security number of the defendant. His redactions instead only covered the driver’s license number and date of birth.

On Oct. 12 The Wayne Independent issued a public statement acknowledging that a recent post “disclosed too much information,” calling the disclosure “regrettable but unintentional.” The statement added, “Do better applies to us. It applies to everyone else too.”

The mayor responded to our Facebook publication with the following statement: 

"Hey NEPA News: Live,

Thank you for reaching out. It's always nice to have extra coverage of things going on around town. I've emailed you back and wanted to share for your readers here too.

Prior to the Mayor's Office post, blurry screenshots were made from The Wayne Independent's post. Blue redactions were added to offer Mr. Brennan extra protection.

These actions led me to believe that his information was safe.

Three weeks ago, myself and others assisted Mr. Brennan with this issue and paid for a year of LifeLock services for him.

A facebook comment I received yesterday was helpful in pointing out the missing blue redaction you note. Immediately after seeing this comment, I was happy to err on the side of caution and add a third redaction.

To my knowledge, the author of The Wayne Independent has not reached out to make amends.

Thanks again for checking in. May we all have good luck in finding Rex safe in Honesdale soon!

Sincerely, Mayor Derek".