In the wake of a strange interaction between a male adult driver and two young girls on Thursday, the Napa County Sheriff's Department is looking deeper into a report of a suspicious man driving an older Mercedes Benz around the Vichy Avenue area.

Parents of Vichy Elementary School students have expressed concern the man may be trying to contact their children in an attempt to abduct them.

"As far as we know now, this man has committed no crime," Napa County Undersheriff Mike Loughran said on Friday morning. "At this time we just want to talk to him. He is not wanted by law enforcement. No children have been abducted."

Parents started getting the jitters when the Napa Valley Unified School District used Connect-Ed -- a telephone communication system used to contact every parent who has a child in district schools -- to issue an alert about a situation that occurred around 4 p.m. Thursday on Rose Lane, off Silverado Trail, near Vichy School.

Witnesses told police a man turned on Rose Lane and parked his Mercedes near a yard where two young girls were playing. He got out of the car and started wiping down the vehicle with a towel.

Loughran said the girls asked him what he was doing and he responded saying he was washing his car and asked them if they wanted to help. The girls said no, and reported the incident to their parents. The driver of the Mercedes left. When police arrived, they showed the girls' father a picture of a registered sex offender who lives in the area. The father identified the man as the one who was driving the Mercedes.

Deputies went to the sex offender's home. "We confirmed that man has been out of the country for several weeks," Loughran said.

Loughran said he considered the actions of the Mercedes driver to be suspicious.

"We do believe he could have had an ulterior motive that may have involved the children. It's a strange place to stop your car and start wiping it down," Loughran said. "But it's not a crime. Even if we found this guy, we could not arrest him. He has done nothing against the law."

Children and their parents were met by sheriff's deputies on Friday morning at Vichy School.

"Because parents were concerned, we thought it was a good idea to increase patrol in the area. If this man is frequenting the area, we want to stop him and talk to him," Loughran said. "This is also a good reminder to parents that they need to talk to their children about being aware of their surroundings. Abductions can happen anywhere, anytime. Parent need to keep an eye on their children and keep them informed of what they should and should not do if they are faced with this type of situation."

School officials decided to use the district-wide communication alert system to let parents know they need to talk to their kids about possible abductions, according to a NVUSD spokeswoman.

The system was activated to quell rumors and give parents accurate information. It also gave the description of the man and his vehicle.

The man is described as about 55, 5-feet-11, 185 pounds with curly gray hair. The vehicle he is driving is an older blue or silver Mercedes Benz.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's department at 253-4591.